


XCOM: Nexus

by TheMelancholyDreams



Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action, Alien Invasion, Character Death, Squad Based, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-03-27 20:02:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13888143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMelancholyDreams/pseuds/TheMelancholyDreams
Summary: Squaddie Kyle Chapel and his friends have terror attack experience under their belt from their civillian days. Captain Yumi “Hydra” Wen is ecstatic to lead a squad consisting of her 5 closest friends. Major Kina “Valkyrie” Yamura has a score to settle with a soldier of her calibre.Together, they are XCOM.Discover what it means to become a soldier pitted against alien hell with your brothers-and-sisters-in-arms at your side through 6 harrowing chapters of sacrifice, hardship, and bloodshed.[A/N: Contains primarily Enemy Unknown content, but features some elements from Enemy Within and Vanilla XCOM: 2]





	1. For An Eye

    Radio silence was the first sign of many that something had gone wrong. Firebrand’s uncharacteristic silence was another. Chimera and Valkyrie shot worried glances at each other. Gripping the harness bars of his seat, Chimera ran through his anti-vomit procedures: breath...eyes, open...breath...eyes, open...breath…

    Eyes shot up at the cockpit upon the sound of something shattering. The harness bars around each soldier retracted back into the walls of the skyranger.

    “Prep for a hostile deployment.” Firebrand said weakly.

    Chimera peered out the cockpit. Although watching from the other end of the skyranger, he could make out dense smoke begin to blot out the sun. _Smoke, this close to home?_

    Wordlessly, weapons were handed to one another. Helmets were donned, and grenades were traded between hands. Soon, two four-strong teams were ready for whatever it was they were about to face.

    Nearest the ramp was Chimera, uncertain. Like Valkyrie, this type of mission was exactly what he and his men had trained for. Experience dictated that Chimera should have been more ready than anyone else in the cabin, but only he knew that this was a false fact. His men behind him had the benefit of not having their shots waivered by guilt. Not the first few, at least.

    Valkyrie appeared beside him with a sniper that functionally matched his. Its only difference was that it was painted a harsh crimson with black accents to match the armor of her and her girls― a nice contrast to his squad’s dark blue hue. She eyed him. With what, he couldn’t tell beneath her helmet, but he could imagine. Resentment. Anxiety. Hopefully, maybe even understanding.

    Then came the dreaded hiss. The skyranger cabin rasped like the jaw of a mechanical snake as the ramp began to lower. The blueish gray of the cabin slowly gave way to the red-basked hangar, just outside of Delta Section.

    Chimera flicked on his flashlight the moment he landed onto Delta Section.  Pairs of armored boots landed behind him as he surveyed what was once XCOM HQ’s first line of defense. His light danced over the permanently pained expressions of countless aliens. Almost all floaters. With his team behind him, he pushed forward. Cyberdisk parts crunched under his feet.

    “We’ll take the barracks.” Valkyrie’s voice crackled through Chimera’s helmet radio, “You guys worry about the control room.”

    “Solid copy.”

    Valkyrie diverted her train of squadmates one way, and Chimera conducted his the other. Simultaneously, both squads vanished into darkness.

    Chimera swung into a room with his teammate Catharus close behind with her plasma LMG. The other two members of his squad hadn’t set foot into the room before laser pistol fire briefly illuminated the room a faint red. Soon, four sets of flashlights casted upon the laser’s source.

    “Stand down, check your fire!” Chimera barked at the XCOM soldier, holding his aim until the pistol clattered to the ground.

    “Fuck! Fuck.” the soldier raised both hands. He gestured at something beside him, “Help him.”

    Chimera couldn’t quite place the voice, and the lights made it hard to make out the face. He stepped towards the soldier and motioned for his men to aim their barrels down. The downcast light revealed the dark brown complexion of Fireteam Insolitum’s leader, Predator. He sat beside a heavily injured body of another soldier, tucked safely beneath the lip of a dilapidated holotable.

    Ark, a Chimera Squad member, knelt beside the body. Delicately, he performed a pulse check. Found an unscathed section of the soldier’s back to lay a hand upon. Shook his head no.

    Something inside Predator switched off. He let himself slink against the wall, let his arms drape beside his legs carelessly. A set of bed sheets draped over a mannequin would have seemed more lively.  

    “It’s them. They’re here. I don’t know-” Predator was cut short by his own injuries. He stained his forearm red with a bloody mist.

    “Shh,” Ark applicated a medikit spray, “How many are left?”

    Predator shook his head and his breathing quickened, “I...I don’t know. I could be the only one.” he exhaled a long _whoosh_ and slumped to the ground onto his side.

    Chimera shined his flashlight onto Predator directly, and was relieved to see that he was at least breathing. Turning to his men, Chimera motioned onwards.

    As they stepped out of Delta section, they walked into the big open expanse. This expanse was once the very same hallway that led to every room in XCOM HQ. The ceilings and floorings had once been adorned with cerulean lights, and the power generators used to echo their hums reliably down the corridors. Now, the marvel of architectural engineering remained silent and pitch dark in the places where the flashlights didn’t shine. It had just as many bodies strewn across the floor as Delta Section, but there was a stark difference; gone were the floaters and alien remains, and instead lay lab coated XCOM staff. Among the human slain were the outdated weapons of XCOM security guards, and to Chimera’s surprise, one or two overturned bodies of fallen XCOM soldiers.  

    “You kids are getting sloppy.” a voice echoed in the room omnipresently.

    A fifth flashlight flicked on and blinded the team of four soldiers. Chimera shielded his eyes and focused on the careful footsteps approaching, then the person making them. Central Officer Bradford took care not to trip on his way towards them. Behind him were two XCOM soldiers, each carrying pistols and armor pieces that clung to their base layers like dead hair.

    “Is Valkyrie Squad onsite?” Bradford asked directly. His typical earpiece was absent from its place in his ear.

    Donatella was the first from Chimera’s team to respond, “They’re taking the barracks first,” she popped off her helmet and passed it to Bradford, “And somethin’ about Fireteam Orion being split up.”

    After a brief inspection, Bradford tilted the helmet on its side and spoke into it. He went on, listing various parts of the base, but Chimera let Bradford’s words fade into the background as he sombered over towards one of the disgruntled soldiers behind Central. The one nearest to him was Yang, from Fireteam Nylar. A fellow sniper.

    “Is this the rest of you?” Chimera hinted at the other equally worn soldier.

    Yang slowly nodded her head. Her eyes were red, but all evidence of tears had long since dried from her cheeks. What remained were hues of bloodshot and the aftermarks of tears.

    Chimera’s heart sank. Whoever that other soldier was, who now sat with her arms thrown around her knees, couldn’t have been Stella. Stella simply didn’t “do” pistols.

    “Chimera.” Bradford repeated himself.

    Chimera looked up.

    “Have one of your men go back for Predator, then start looking for any survivors in the engineering workshops.” Bradford ordered, “The Valkyries are heading down to the research labs as we speak.”

    “Solid copy.” offered Chimera, his mind still occupied.

    “We’ll regroup in the barracks.” Bradford sighed. He took a short step, pivoted, then kicked a stray weapon fragment down deep into the darkness.

    “Then, we’re gonna get our Commander back.”


	2. Operation Fading Future

    “Confirmed kill on Bogey-004, Commander.” a yellow-suited intelligence officer said.

    In the dimly lit, cave-like room, a holographic projection of a crashing alien spaceship illuminated the room.

    “Good shot, Voodoo-417.” Bradford complimented the fighter pilot. “Return to base for repairs.

    “Yes sir, skies are clear for now.” the pilot’s voice crackled through the radio

    As the team of yellow suits before him brought up a satellite view of the crash site, Central Intelligence Officer Bradford folded his arms.

    “I'll alert the Commander.” he said before walking away.

 

    Squaddie Kyle Chapel jumped out of bed as his bed frame started beeping and flashing red lights. Every XCOM soldier knew that meant they were selected for a mission. 

    “Ack!” he cried out as he tripped on his paper thin blanket.

    “Come on, Kyle, we gotta go!” Squaddie Duncan Bradwell said to his friend. Squaddie Floyd Lion was already out the door. 

    Kyle hastily untangled himself, then sprinted after his two other friends. In an organized yet chaotic fashion, 3 pairs of boots thundered down the halls of XCOM HQ. As they hustled towards the hangar, Kyle thought about how his adventure began.

 

[~~~]

 

_ “They’re here!” Floyd shouted as he burst in through the door. The moment he was inside the church, he promptly turned around and began to barricade the heavy wooden door. _

_ “Duncan, lend me a hand!” said Kyle. He was pushing a cart down a ramp with both arms, sweat pooling down his face. _

_ Duncan stuffed his arms with countless bibles, and threw them onto the cart Kyle placed before the door. The three survivors knew there wasn't much time before the aliens got inside. _

_ “We need more stuff!” Duncan shouted, “Try checking i-”  _

    Crack!

_ A nightmarish alien claw skewered through the door, closely resembling a woodpecker’s beak searching for hiding prey. The claw flailed around as the alien on the other side strained to regain its balance. Floyd took this opportunity to grab Duncan and run away from the compromised door.  _

    Crack!

_ A second claw protruded into the church. Kyle, Duncan, and Floyd began frantically looking for things to defend themselves with, but it was too late. There was no time for anyone to react as alien remains and debris blossomed towards them, the explosion sending their bodies backwards a few yards. The sounds of terror were replaced with ringing.  _

_ Although the dust was only beginning to settle, Floyd could see rapid laser fire in the distance. The dust stung in his eyes, so he forced them shut. Beside him, his two companions suffered the same ailment as they stood. When Floyd opened his eyes, a human armored head-to-toe in futuristic armor was pointing her weapon towards his face. She gestured towards him like she was saying something, but all Floyd could hear was the ringing. The barrel of her weapon glowed.  _

_ Frantically, Floyd put both of his hands up, his friends doing the same. The word “SPITFIRE” was painted on her left chest piece. The soldier lowered her weapon, and activated a flashlight. Again, Floyd could tell she was saying something, but he still couldn't hear. It wasn't until she took off her helmet did the boys understand. Beneath the dusted helmet of the soldier in front of them was their old classmate and friend, Riuku Wen.  _

_ “What are you guys doing here?” she said as she looked at the three of them.  _

_ Kyle tapped his ear, and motioned an explosion next to it with his hand. Riuku nodded in understanding, and told them to follow her with hand signals.  _

_ “Spitfire, everything alright?” said another female soldier as she entered the debris filled church, “Why is your helmet off?” _

_ “Look, it's them!” Riuku said.  _

_ The soldier looked at Riuku, then looked at the disoriented civilians next to her. She too showed signs of recognition beneath her layers of armor. The word “HYDRA” was painted on her chestplate. Slowly, “Hydra” took of her helmet. Underneath Hydra’s helmet was yet another one of the boys’ friends, Yumi Wen. She was about to say something, but both Yumi and Riuku snapped their attention towards the gaping church entrance. They donned their helmets, then sprinted outside. By the time they crossed through where the doorframe would have been, their weapons were raised and glowing. _

_ In that moment, the boys made a decision. They chose to follow the glow of human weapons and they escaped into the night. _

 

[~~~]

 

    Floyd, Duncan, and Kyle were breathless by the time they reached the hangar. Two soldiers walked around the corner, helmet in one hand and primary weapon in the other. One soldier was Sgt. Dale “Chimera” Perkley, sniper specialist. The other soldier was Sgt. Stella “Big Momma” Quin, heavy weapons expert. Many thought Stella’s nickname was humorous, but none dared to admit it out loud. That was a lesson the boys were glad they learned before it was too late.

    “Suit up, you’re all late.” Stella said. She grabbed a clip of heavy laser ammunition. 

    Kyle was the first one to grab his carapace armor off the rack, then reached for a laser rifle. 

    “The Commander selected you guys for this op?” Dale asked as the new soldiers put on real combat gear for the first time.

    “Do not question the Commander.” Stella said without looking away from her weapon.

    “I wasn't questioning The Commander, I was questioning the rookies.” Dale turned to say as he walked towards the accessories. 

    The exchange carried so much sting, Floyd swore he could have physically felt the tension.

    “Duncan, catch.” said Dale.

    Duncan turned just in time to catch a small green object. An alien grenade. 

    “Heads up, Kyle.” Dale said absentmindedly before tossing a second object.

    Once in his hands, Kyle examined the red and white object. It was marked “MEDIKIT” above the instructions. 

    Stella’s heavy laser clicked as she clipped on the last of her extra ammo clips. She too walked over to the accessories bin and grabbed an item. She produced a strange gray module and walked towards Floyd.

    “Attach this to your primary weapon.” Stella ordered. 

    “What is it?” asked Floyd. 

    “Just do it, I'll tell you later.” 

    At last, the three soldiers equipped their gear, minus one thing. Dale and Stella reached for their own helmets from opposite sides of the room.

    “So...when do we get helmets?” Duncan asked, directing his question at both of the sergeants. 

    “Rookies get full visor helmets. Non specialized.” Dale answered. 

    “Only takes holo-targeting inputs and has a basic communication link.” Stella added.

    Duncan wasn't sure what any of that meant, but he was happy he wouldn't get his brain splattered as easily. 

 

    “Big Sky, you are cleared for liftoff.” a voice crackled loudly through a radio in the aircraft’s cabin. 

    “Solid copy, Central. We’ll be back as soon as we paint the town green.” 

    The air above them hissed as the ceiling opened like a missile silo. All 5 soldiers inside the ship fastened their belts, and the Skyranger began to ascend vertically. Kyle noticed a moment too late that their sergeants across of them were gripping their own seats. With no warning, the ship shot forward instead of rising vertically. Because the seats were mounted to the side of the aircraft, Kyle and his inexperienced friends started to lean against their will. Within moments, the ship stopped accelerating and maintained its speed. Kyle, Duncan, and Floyd returned to a normal sitting position while their sergeants loosened their grips.

    Dale rested his head on the wall of the Skyranger, and Stella sat upright, staring at the loading door. Without seeing their faces underneath their helmets, Kyle could tell the two had blank expressions. He also had a pretty good idea what they were talking about. 

    “Still?” Duncan asked, looking at the two more experienced soldiers across of them. 

    “2 decades hasn't changed much.” Kyle replied. Realizing Stella was glaring at him, he quickly averted his eyes. 

    The Skyranger was completely windowless, but the sound of rain peppered the cabin. 

    “Any advice for rookies?” Floyd asked. 

    Neither soldier in front of him moved their head when they spoke. 

    “Getting good cover will save your life.” Sergeant Dale said. 

    “Cover is worthless if you can't hit the slimy things.” said Stella, “What kind of advice is that?”

    “These guys are rookies. You can't expect them to land critical shots on their first mission.”

    “Why not? I landed 3.” 

    “Yes, but we are going to be tactical this time, instead of rushing out into the open.”

    “Excuse you?”

    “War is about team efficiency, not mowing down every gray colored being you see on first sight.”

    “What are you talking about? There are people dying out there. We need to end this at any cost.”

    Red lights flooded the transport bay, interrupting the sergeants’ argument. When the lights turned red, that meant they were close to the crash site.

    “Approaching the AO.” announced the pilot, “Ready up, boys.”

    “Check your weapons.” Stella ordered the boys.

    Kyle nervously grabbed his laser rifle and inspected the firing mechanism. Then, he checked the clip.

    “Ready.” Duncan reported.

    “Ready.” Floyd reported.

    Kyle slammed the magazine into the weapon. “Ready.” he reported.

    “Ready!” Dale said to the pilot.

    For a few moments they stood in the transport bay, staring at the bay door through their helmet visors. Then, the door began to open with a soft hiss, turning into a ramp. 

    “Delta formation.” said Dale.

    Sgt. Stella and Sgt. Dale were the first to enter the fan-shaped formation. The new recruits fanned out behind them, weapons raised. Although the helmet visor filtered his vision a touch white, Kyle was amazed by the scorched grounds and fallen trees littered everywhere. 

    “Line formation. Full cover if possible. Overwatch.” said the Commander. The transmitted voice was crystal clear in Kyle’s helmet. 

    Both the trees and the alien ship debris seemed like good cover to Kyle. He was about to run over to the debris, but he remembered what he was taught about high cover versus low cover. Sgt. Stella darted towards one of the trees, so Kyle joined  her in the tree line. By a nearby tree stood Duncan. Once in position, Stella readied her rifle, scanning the area for aliens in silence. The two boys did as she did. Dale aimed his laser pistol from behind alien hull debris with Floyd by his side. 

    “Contact!” Dale yelled. He fired a laser at a big green alien that was making its way towards them, and landed the shot. Floyd stood up and fired his rifle at the same target and managed to bring it down.

    “Kill confirmed.” said Floyd. The target’s heat signature rapidly dropped and it’s weapon exploded.

    Two more of the green aliens emerged from the fog, but Kyle couldn't hit them from that distance. Stella sprayed a barrage of lasers, but none of the shots landed. 

    “Missed the target.” Stella reported with a touch of annoyance in her voice. 

    The green creatures hid behind rocks. Kyle’s HUD displayed two percentages, each next to the word “Muton”.

    “Move into firing positions. Full cover where possible.” said the Commander. 

    Stella was the first to move up, deciding not to use her rocket launcher. She dove behind a chunk of ship debris, and gunned down the muton on the left. The alien was still alive by the time Stella released the trigger, but barely. Duncan posted by a smaller chunk of debris next to Stella, and fired a laser rifle beam. The shot connected, and the left muton staggered back a few steps before collapsing, dead. 

    “Nice work, rookie.” Dale congratulated. He holstered his sidearm and whipped out his laser sniper rifle. A thin beam shot out and pierced the muton on the right, but the shot wasn't fatal. 

    Floyd vaulted over his cover and used a rock formation as his new source of cover. He fired his laser rifle at the muton, but he missed.

    “Adjusting sights.” reported Floyd as he fumbled with his weapon.

    “Kyle, take it down!” said Stella.

    Kyle felt the gravity of the situation. Everyone else’s guns were still cooling down. Duncan was too close to Stella, and Floyd was too close to Dale. If Kyle didn't kill this alien, two of his teammates would get hit by an alien grenade. He shoved his worries out of his mind, aimed, and fired. 

    “Kill confirmed!” Dale cheered. The muton’s body lay dead, and its weapon exploded. 

    “Excellent work.” said the Commander, “Defensive positions, full reload. Take two rotations.”

    Before it was too late, Kyle recalled what that order meant. Since they were in the open, the team of 5 moved closer towards each other, but kept their distance in case an alien threw a grenade at them. The resulting formation was best described as a blob, and half of the team reloaded while the other half watched for aliens. Stella, Duncan, and Kyle reloaded first, then switched overwatch roles with Dale and Floyd. 

    “Done, sir.” Stella said.

    “Move forward, maintain formation. Overwatch with full cover of possible.” said the Commander. 

    Floyd moved forward first, craving redemption. As he ran towards some rocks, a human-like creature carrying an alien weapon spotted him. The sight of each other mad both combatants rush towards cover. Floyd reached his rocks before the alien reached a tree, and readied his weapon.  His helmet outlined the creature’s profile, and “Thin Man - 74%” appeared next to it. He tracked the alien as it ran, and shot it before it reached the tree. It collapsed on the other side of the tree as its weapon exploded. 

    “Lookout!” Kyle shouted. A second thin man was running towards Floyd. 

    Without moving from his cover, Kyle scanned and shot at the creature. The single beam cut cleanly through the thin man, nearly splitting it in half. Floyd nodded at Kyle to say thanks, and Kyle nodded back. 

    “The downed ship should be just ahead.” said the Commander, “Be careful.”

    Slowly, Duncan crept forward into the fog. He maintained his pace until he came across a fallen tree, and ducked behind it.

    “I have a visual on the alien ship.” Duncan reported through exhausted teeth.

    “Good. Set up a partial overwatch first, then a full overwatch when everyone is ready.” 

    A soft squish was heard as Duncan dug his knee into the mud and rested his elbow on the fallen log. On both sides of him, his sergeants ducked behind cover and waited. All that could be heard over the whirr of an alien power generator was the sound of nature. 

    “No movement.” said Stella, “I’m going in.”

    Before anyone could stop her, Sergeant Stella moved forward into an offensive position, crushing leaves and thudding against the scorched earth with every step. Kyle was unsure if the amount of noise she generated was a mistake or her signature tactic. Sure enough, the sounds of digital chatter could be heard just moments later. As the white robotic units hovered out of the downed alien ship, Stella smiled. A cyberdisc revealed itself, two drones hovering behind it. 

    “The only way we’ll take this down safely is if I land a critical shot.” warned Dale as he aimed. “I don’t have a good shot.”

    Stella knew that Dale was right. If the cyberdisc wasn’t eliminated quickly, one of the rookies could be shot by it’s yellow energy beam. Reluctantly, she warmed up her LMG. 

    “I’ll holo-target the disc for you.” she said blankly. Shortly after she said the word you, she unleashed a barrage of lasers at the floating disc, pelting it like hail. Moments later, Dale could see a small holographic square appear in his HUD around the cyberdisc. Now, the shot percentage read “ Cyberdisc - 66% hit chance, 66% critical chance”. Steadying his aim, Dale took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. The instantaneous laser connected with the cyberdisc’s exposed firing mechanism, causing it to explode. Fragmented pieces of the disc fell to the ground as the drones stopped functioning. 

    “Thanks.” Dale said to Stella as he loaded his sniper rifle. 

    “Don’t mention it.” she said, “Seriously, don’t.”

    Kyle couldn’t decide what was more impressive: The fact that the Sergeant’s narrowly shut down that charging cyberdisc, or the fact that Stella and Dale just worked together on something without any remarks. Sort of. He shoved the thought out of his mind when Floyd motioned for him to move up. Holding his weapon at port arms, Kyle joined the rest of his team dispersed along the scattered cover. 

    “There’s an entry point.” said the Commander. On the screens of their HUDs, the five soldiers saw a blue waypoint arrow travel towards an alien door on the side of the downed ship. 

    “That ship shouldn’t have been capable of carrying anymore aliens, excluding the outsider.” the Commander continued, “Proceed with some caution regardless.”

    “Two overwatches, three dashes.” said Sergeant Dale, switching to his sidearm. He sprinted a long distance towards the side of the alien ship. He slumped against the sleek, curved exterior, and took a moment to catch his breath. 

    Stella nodded towards Kyle and Floyd, but motioned for Duncan to stay and overwatch with her. Doing as their commanding officer said, Kyle charged with Floyd as Stella and Duncan covered them. They ran towards Dale, but ran out of breath just before reaching the ship’s exterior. The two settled with nearby cover and rested for a moment. Now rested, Dale switched back to his sniper rifle and aimed at the trees behind Stella and Duncan. Kyle and Floyd didn’t have to be told to overwatch as Stella and Duncan ran towards their rough formation. 

    Suddenly, Dale half-raised a single fist urgently. With the raised hand, he pointed towards the door, referring to something that was multiple walls away, and tapped where his ear would be if he wasn’t wearing a helmet. That meant he had heard something in that general direction.

    “Breach formation.” said the Commander. Since there weren’t any Assault units in the team assigned for this mission, Stella stood directly in front of the door. Dale stood to the left of the door, ready to snap around the corner and fire a sniper round. To her right stood Duncan, who was ready to prime an alien grenade. Behind Dale stood Floyd, and behind Duncan stood Kyle. They took a moment to make sure everyone was ready for the breach, each soldier nodding at Stella one by one. 

    “Breach!” she warned. She tapped the alien door, causing the field of energy to disappear. Inside, Stella didn’t see a single alien, but she saw the hallway branch into two paths. She rushed into the right hall and approached a second door. Dale aimed down the hall Stella didn’t go down as the new soldiers filed into the alien ship.

    “Left hall clear.” Floyd reported. 

    “Clear!” Stella shouted. She watched her teammates walk towards the door she stood by, ready to shoot a flanking alien. Under Stella’s careful watch, the team of 5 got back into the same breach formation they used on the first door. They signaled their readiness, and Stella announced her breach. The room was empty when she walked in, but soon after she entered the room, two orange crystals of energy materialized into aliens.

    “Two?” Central Intelligence Officer Bradford thought in disbelief. All previously downed ships so far only carried one Outsider, not two. What were they planning? Bradford called for Chief Researcher Dr. Vahlen to the command deck.

    “What is that thing?” Floyd asked as Stella ran towards the center of the alien control room.

    “You’re gonna shock one of them.” Stella said. She threw down her LMG.

    As Dale instructed, Kyle and Duncan pulled out their sidearms. The three took up cover in the control room, and fired their pistols at the outsider aliens.

    “How am I supposed to do that?” asked Floyd, still hiding around the corner in the previous room. Then, he looked down at the thing Stella had him attach to the front underside of his gun, and realised it had it’s own trigger. 

    “Kyle, I’m gonna need your help after this.” Stella said as the outsider aliens were recovering from being shot.

    Floyd charged into the room, ducked behind a railing, and pulled the strange device’s trigger. Twin electric bolts arced towards one of the outsiders, and made contact. The second alien was about to shoot Kyle, but Stella shouted at the other alien and taunted it as the one that Floyd shocked fell to the ground.

    “Over here!” she yelled. The last outsider snapped his attention towards the defenseless soldier in the middle of the room, and fired three rounds at Stella. She grunted as the rounds knocked her to the ground, but both Stella and Dale knew that she was going to be fine. Floyd took advantage of his split second opportunity, and fired his last set of bolts at the second outsider. Stella had successfully fooled the alien that now began to slump to the ground.

    “Mission success. Return to the Pelican when ready.” said Bradford, “Solid work, Strike 1-5.”

    Kyle ran over to Stella with the medikit. He was grateful he’d read the instructions on the transport ship as he sprayed Stella’s plasma wounds. Dale put the sniper rifle behind his back and squatted next to Stella.

    “Is she gonna make it, doc? I can get the bone saw.” Dale sarcastically said to Kyle. Stella rolled onto her back and laughed.

    “I’m just like you during the last mission.” said Stella as she shut her eyes and smiled. Dale took off his helmet just to show his annoyed expression.

    “Kyle?” Dale asked, “Do me a favor and skip the part of the procedure where we bring Stella back onto the ship.” 

    Kyle shook his head and smiled. 

    “Yes sir.” he replied, still treating Stella’s wound with the extra supplies in his armor.


	3. Operation Dying Empire

    The lights in the room flickered. Central Intelligence Officer Bradford wasn't sure what he hated more: the constant humming or the frequent power shortages. The Commander noticed the flicker too, and wrote a reminder on his notepad to allow the construction of another thermo power generator. Bradford pressed his palms against the cool railing. 

    “Are you sure they’re ready to face the unknown?” he asked the Commander. 

    “Of course.” said the Commander, “Their individual performances in battle have been exemplary. Putting them together would only make them stronger.”

    “Very well. I’ll prep the team.” Bradford said. He nodded at an intelligence officer, who tapped his monitor six times. The monitor read:

 

[~]

Operatives Selected (6/6):

         - Captain Yumi " _ Hydra _ " Wen (Assault)

         - Lieutenant Riuku " _ Spitfire _ " Wen (Support)

         - Lieutenant Stella " _ Big Momma _ " Quin (Heavy)

         - Lieutenant Klara " _ Marathon _ " Maurer (Support)

         - Lieutenant Annette " _ Yin _ " Delgado (Assault)

         - Sergeant Evelyn " _ Yang _ " Shu (Sniper)

[Fireteam Nylar]

[~]

 

    The six members of Fireteam Nylar couldn’t decide if they should be excited or be mortified. On one hand, they were ecstatic at the prospect of going on a mission together. After all, they’d been friends for a few decades, and they haven't been together like this since high school. On the other hand, they were about to embark on the most difficult mission XCOM has faced so far.  _ Alien Base Assault _ . No soldier has so much as set foot inside the alien base yet, and to top it off, there was no available reconnaissance on the underground base. 

    Fireteam Nylar sat in silence. No one quite knew what to say. The engine roared over the sound of rain sprinkling the bay windows. 

    “Dropship has reached the landing point.” the pilot said to both the Commander and the six girls. The lights in the transport bay switched to a dim red.

    Despite their mixed emotions, each girl donned their helmets and turned them on. At first, the displays were blinding, but each of them got used to the brightness before the door opened. The ship was momentarily basked in green light with the soft glow of plasma weaponry. Slowly, the door lowered and became a ramp. The ship had landed in the middle of a field, but a single, small building stood out of the greenery. 

    “Surveillance says the area above ground is clear.” the Commander said, “Proceed to the hatch as you please.”

    Being the highest ranked soldier, Captain Yumi “Hydra” Wen took point with her shotgun. Lieutenant Melinda “Yang” Sun slung her sniper around her shoulder as Lieutenant Stella “Big Momma” Quin paced along with her heavy weaponry. The others jogged alongside their teammates, prepared to fire regardless of what surveillance said. The tall unkempt grass felt like it was getting thicker as they trudged on.

    “The hatch is up ahead.” said Hydra. 

    She motioned for the soldiers to surround the hatch and prepare to fire if a hostile popped up. Riuku “Spitfire” Wen looked at Hydra, and Hydra nodded back. The others waited in anticipation as Spitfire turned the crank with her free hand and lifted the lid.

    “Clear.” said Big Momma. Klara “Marathon” Maurer shined her light down the ladder hatch, illuminating cobwebs and dust.

    As the team’s scout, Spitfire dropped down the hatch first and landed on both feet. Behind her followed Hydra. As the two soldiers shined their lights around the strange room, they could see the transition from human architecture to the distinct curvature and sleekness of alien architecture. 

    Big Momma and Marathon dropped down too, and pulled out their weapons once they regained their balance. 

    “Hurry up, you two!” Marathon called out above her.

    Lieutenant Annette “Yin” Delgado nervously looked at her friend Yang. Yin and Yang. Completely cooked to the bone with fear, the last two soldiers reluctantly dropped down into the hatch. 

    “Finally.” muttered Big Momma. 

    She adjusted her grip on her light machine gun. The cold walls dripped with moisture, and despite the efforts of their combat helmets, the air felt muggy. With the ladder behind them, the only thing in front of them was a hallway that outstretched into a large alien interior. The roof stayed at about the same height, but the XCOM soldiers could see the steep drop off past the nearby railing.

    “Rem...ber, y…oing...n...bli…” the Commander warned through static crackle, “...dio...wo...ea...ood...lu…”

    Fireteam Nylar knew that they were too far underground. Attempts at long range communication would be pointless. 

    “Looks like we’re on our own for this one.” said Hydra. With the Commander and Central out of the equation, that left her in charge. She was grateful she’d gotten a promotion recently, because if they had to decide which of the five lieutenants should lead, then it would have been a mess.

    “Yes ma’am!” they loyally replied. 

    “Let's take cover by that overlook.” Hydra suggested. 

    Spitfire and Marathon quietly paced to the viewing area first, and waited. Next, Yin and Hydra took up defensive positions behind them. Hydra put a finger to where her mouth would be, signaling Big Momma and Yang to be quiet as they made their way over. Creating little to no sound, Big Momma and Yang safely crossed over to the railings the rest of Fireteam Nylar stood by. 

    “Overwatch.” Hydra commanded. 

    Yang put away her sniper rifle and scanned the area with her laser pistol. The others held their weapons tight and waited to see if anything heard their approach. Sure enough, two fleshy monstrosities announced their arrival as their sets of claws clattered against the floor. 

    Yin saw two sets of four claws scurry towards them, each set supporting a being that can only be described as bloody and nightmarish, or in other words, chryssalids. From the waist up, the silhouette of a chryssalid could be mistaken for that of a human’s, but the glassy white eyeballs, reddish-purple hue, and claws for fingers set them apart from anything human. Resisting the urge to throw up, Yin stood up and skillfully fired her laser shotgun at one of the approaching freaks of nature. 

    Spitfire hadn’t seen the creatures, but caught onto what Yin was doing before she did it. As Yin fired her shotgun, Spitfire released three plasma bolts at the second chryssalid. Both soldiers landed their shots, but neither was enough to bring either target down.

    “Contact!” Yin yelled. 

    Hydra motioned for Yang and Marathon to use their pistols to finish off the nearly dead targets, but to remain in their current positions. 

    “I’ll take the one on the right.” said Marathon. 

    Before Yang nodded her reply, Marathon squeezed her trigger. A short laser beam hit the shoulder of the right alien, but it still wasn’t quite dead. As instructed, Yang took a shot at the left alien, landing a headshot. Her supplemental pistol training proved its usefulness once again. Seeing how Marathon couldn’t finish off her alien, Hydra whipped out her pistol and shot it down with a single trigger pull. 

    “Overwatch.” Hydra reminded Big Momma. 

    The heavy gunner aimed between the railings and listened carefully. As her gun slowly traced the outline of the large deck below, she noticed something glint. 

    “Hang on,” Big Momma said, “What is that?”

    Back in the confines of XCOM’s own underground bunker, both the Commander and Bradford could see glimpses of each soldier’s helmet perspective feed.

    “Enlarge Stella’s viewpoint.” Bradford said. 

    After a few taps, Stella’s screen took up the whole display window. Between static pauses, the people in the command deck saw the green containment cells Stella was talking about.

    “Is that...?” asked Marathon, unsure of herself.

    “...this can’t be...” Yin trailed off.

 

    “Freeze.” ordered Bradford. 

    Stella’s view feed was paused, and moments later became slightly clearer. With no static frames, it was easier for viewers to see the outline of humans encased in green fluid.

    “Get Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen.” the Commander said to an assistant.

    “Well, now we know where the abductees have gone.” said Bradford, gripping the rails of the viewing deck hard. 

    He took a moment to compose himself before speaking into the communicator.

 

    “...atch...r...fi...” the girls heard. 

    They didn’t need to be instructed to watch their fire, but Fireteam Nylar understood that those very words had to be on record.

    Judging from the first underground experimentation deck, there must have been scores if not hundreds of captured humans in the entire alien facility. The sounds of heavy militarized boots thudding against the cold ground brought them out of shock.

    “Mutons, heads up ladies!” Hydra shouted. 

    She fired her laser just as her teammates did, each desperately trying to get a shot off on the two mutons, but the aliens were too quick. Plasma and laser bursts peppered the cover the mutons dove behind.

    “Defensive positions!” commanded Hydra. 

    They knew they were out of range from alien grenades, so the girls clustered into a 2x3 rectangle in the next viewing deck over. Yang and Big Momma were in the back of the formation, while Hydra and Yin stood in the front of the formation with their shotguns. Between those four were Spitfire and Marathon, their weapons glowing green with plasma energy. 

    Both mutons exchanged some heavy plasma bolts, but none of the shots hit the XCOM soldiers. The plasma sizzled as it impacted the cover the girls hid behind. 

    “Marathon, get ready.” said Big Momma as she warmed up her LMG. 

    Cracking a smile, Marathon stood and waited. Suddenly, Big Momma’s heavy lasers caught one of the mutons, staggering it backwards. As the alien stood, Marathon could see a small holographic square appear in her helmet’s display around the alien, boosting her targeting systems. Using Big Momma’s added boost, Marathon aimed and fired her weapon, successfully killing the Muton.

    “Nice work you two.” Hydra congratulated. She turned to point at Yin and Yang, “You guys are up next.”

    Yin focused her aim at the second muton, and waited for it to peak above it’s cover again. Once it did, her laser pierced it’s shoulder, and it recoiled in pain. Before the second muton had a chance to regain its balance, Yang shot it straight through it’s exposed chest with her laser sniper. Yang watched as her kill took a single step back, fall to its knees, and roll onto its side. The weapon it carried exploded shortly after as smoke escaped Yang’s barrel.

    Together, Hydra and Spitfire watched the room in case more enemies arrived. Spitfire held her finger over the trigger of her plasma rifle as Yumi gripped her laser pistol with both hands. Nothing. Now, the only sound heard was the hum of the machines with humans inside. Hydra motioned towards a large opening in the wall up ahead. The five girls nodded back. 

    Voluntarily, Big Momma crouched down and slowly walked towards the left side of the door frame. She peeked around the wall and looked at the walkways. Directly out the door was a railing and a drop off, and there was a wall to the right. She wasn’t sure what was to the left.

    “No contact.” she said. 

    Hydra and Yin took up breach positions behind Big Momma as Spitfire and Marathon crept towards the opening. Putting away her sniper rifle, Yang approached the right side of the door. 

    “Contact!” she shouted, grabbing the sniper rifle she’d just slung around her back. Her teammates watch her scope in on something out of the doorframe, but didn't fire. 

    “They’re backing up.” Yang reported to Hydra. “What now?”

    Hydra knew they couldn't let the aliens find more of their friends, but there could be more hiding right behind the door frame. 

    “Scout the room ahead. Find cover.” said Hydra. If anything tried to attack Yang, Yin would be able to kill it. Afterall, there was a reason why their code names went together.

    After taking deep breath, Yang turned the corner sharply and ducked behind some nearby cover. Once at the hip-height alien structure, she rested her laser sidearm on top of the surface she hid behind. The walkway was empty. She put her finger on the trigger and motioned for her teammates to move in. The walkway had no cover that could be easily reached without running, so Hydra order Fireteam Nylar to get into a tight formation. Because they had shotguns, Yin and Hydra were the first to walk onto the open walkway. Next, Big Momma moved into the center of what would be a 2x3 formation. Hydra couldn’t believe that they hadn’t been shot at yet. Lastly, once the two support units Spitfire and Marathon moved into position, Yang joined the formation. All six matched their meticulous pace, watching for the glow of weaponry or listening for the sounds of heavy muton footsteps. To their surprise, they reached the turn in the walkway without getting shot. To their right was another short walkway that lead to a larger viewing deck.

    “Offensive positions, space out.” ordered Hydra.

    Fireteam Nylar dispersed into the next deck, transitioning into a line formation against the new set of railings and alien computers. One by one, the leaned against cover. It felt relieving after having walked through the walkway exposed. 

    “Guys…” Yang said cautiously, “I think I see something.”

    In the deck below, a berserker quietly growled, staring directly at Yang. Then, it roared. The creature charged towards the elevated deck so it was underneath the deck. The roar of the berserker must have alerted a few other enemy units, because three pairs of alien boots clunked towards the berserker. Since it was underneath them, the berserker couldn't be shot. Soon enough, the three mutons had taken cover against towers containing blue fluid capsules. Using their strange muton dialect, one of the mutons shouted at them from behind cover. Fireteam Nylar was surrounded. 

    “What do we do?” asked Yang. 

    Hydra paused for only a moment. She couldn't allow her team to see her uncertainty. 

    “Marathon, kill that first muton on my mark. I’ll get the one on the right.” Hydra said with forged confidence. She turned to look at her other support unit, “Spitfire, pin down the third one and make sure he doesn't move. Mark.”

    Without questioning orders, Marathon vaulted the railing. Hydra ran down the right side of the deck past Marathon as Spitfire stood up. Marathon ran up to the muton, but he was aiming at her. She batted the weapon away with her own, and fired three plasma bolts into the alien’s chest from two feet away. Hydra stood up with her laser shotgun, and pulled the trigger once. What remained of the muton dropped to the ground, also dead. The third muton attempted to fire at Marathon, but Spitfire fired at the wall it was hiding behind. The discouraged muton didn't dare move, but the berserker did. It nightmarishly charged at Marathon.

    “Yin!” Big Momma yelled. 

    As Marathon ran towards the third muton, a chryssalid ran towards her. Big Momma held down her trigger for as long as she could, causing it to fall down. Yin was already carefully aiming her sidearm shot when Big Momma’s holo-target appeared around it. She shot a single laser that pierced the body of the chryssalid. Moments later, it stopped struggling. 

    By the time it had been brought down, Marathon had already reached the third muton. The muton was too afraid of Spitfire’s blasts to attempt to shoot Marathon. A fatal mistake. Marathon swore she could see fear in the hulking creatures eyes as she mercilessly gunned it down with plasma fire. She turned towards the approaching berserker, but her weapon was empty. Out of nowhere, a shotgun boomed and the berserker staggered forward a little. Marathon watched in awe as it turned around, stomached another shotgun spread to the front, and charged at the shooter. 

    It was Hydra. Hydra had also vaulted over the edge, and had fired twice at the berserker. Once it was close, she fired once more but the third shot wasn't enough to kill the enraged beast. Now, Hydra’s clip was empty. The beast got closer and closer, so close that Hydra was within its arms’ reach. It raised both fists above his head, but a laser erupted from the berserker’s face. Its head was completely decimated before it even hit the ground. Behind where it was standing was Yang, a single smoking laser pistol in hand. 

    “Nice shot!” Hydra said incredulously. 

    “Thanks.” replied Yang. She reloaded her laser pistol. 

    Yin, Big Momma, and Spitfire dropped down and spread out in the center of the lower deck, prepared to supply covering fire for their friends. They were exposed, but they didn’t care. Their friends were more important. After only a couple seconds of overwatch, the three girls in the center of the room eased their stance. As Hydra instructed, the girls took turns reloading and covering each other. 

    “Everyone ready?’ asked Hydra.

    “Ready.” some of them sounded off.

    “Yes Captain.” said the others.

    Hydra pointed towards a nearby ramp and took point. If Hydra were to estimate, she’d estimate that the ramp was roughly twice her height. While aiming, the spaced out circle of XCOM soldiers crept up onto the large ramp. At the top of the ramp was a short rectangular section of walkway before transitioning into a downwards slope. Fireteam Nylar was approaching the long side of the rectangular walkway. 

    “Hang on, I think there’s something down there.” said Yang. Curiously, Yang had noticed the familiar green glow of alien technology once again. This new object with a green glow looked different than the other ones they’d found. The team of six stopped moving as Yang produced her sniper rifle and examined the object with her scope. 

    “Anything?” Hydra asked.

    “Yes, but...” Yang trailed. She didn’t trust her vision. 

    “Here, you try.” said Yang as she gave Hydra her sniper rifle. Briefly, Hydra adjusted the stock and scoped in on the green glow. 

    “Do you see the bodies too?” Yang asked softly. 

    To her own dismay, Hydra did. The center of scope traced the bodies of humans laid out onto surgery tables, preserved with some form of green gas. She felt empathetic pangs in her chest as she saw how the surgery tools pincushioned the expired bodies. Hydra sighed. Despite what her brain and gag reflexes wanted to say, she set aside her emotions. 

    “For now, the operation is more important.” she reminded herself. 

    Once Yang’s sniper rifle was back in its owner’s hands, Hydra motioned for everyone else to get into cover on the walkway. Yin sat with her back pressed against an alien table, her white-gloved hand firmly gripping her shotgun. The sudden shuffling of heavy footsteps startled her, as the sounds started too close to her than she was comfortable with. She stood up, but she was too late. A muton had already run up the opposite end of the ramp where it previously waited. Before Yin had a chance to aim her shotgun, the muton opened fire on her. Green plasma bolts splashed against Yin’s armor three times before she slumped back into her cover. Once the firing pattern broke, she peered around her corner while sitting and shot at the muton once. Yin’s spread connected with the alien’s chest and face region, killing it instantly. As she returned to her laid back position, she listened to the satisfying  _ thud _ as the muton fell backwards and tumbled down the ramp. 

    “We got another one!” Big Momma yelled. She had been so eager for a shot that her LMG had already been warmed and primed by the time she stood up to fire it. 

    The onslaught of lasers stopped the approaching muton, giving Marathon time to steady her aim on the struggling creature. Before she fired, she waited for the purple holo-target to appear around the muton. Once the purple square flashed onto her HUD, she fired. The alien roared as Marathon’s shot took it down. 

    Although Big Momma’s gun stopped whirring, a loud droning buzz could still be heard.  _ Drones _ . 

    “1 contact.” Yang said calmly, “2 contacts. 3 contacts. 4 contacts.”

    As if they were birthed in the dark, four drones hovered into the light. Their white glistening hulls almost matched the shade of white coating Fireteam Nylar’s armor. The drones floated into their positions and prepared to fire. 

    “Singles.” Hydra ordered. That meant that every available soldier selected a target, and their choice would be displayed to their other teammates. 

    Yang selected the furthest one back and pulled out her sidearm. Spitfire and Marathon only saw three of the four aliens from where they stood, and Yang had already picked one of them. With ease that only comes from experience, they quickly split the two targets between the themselves. This left Hydra with the one that the others couldn't see. However, she knew she’d never be able to hit the drone with her shotgun or her pistol at her range. She ran towards the right edge of the ramp as three of her teammates fired their weapons behind her. Hydra slid into position, readied her shotgun, and fired at the last remaining drone from medium range. The girls pooled with sweat as four sets of drone wreckage bounced along the ground away from them.

    “Clear.” Hydra reported as she adjusted her white helmet.

    Wordlessly, the girls switched between overwatching and reloading. Once everyone had fully loaded weapons, they began to slowly descend down the ramp. 

    Big Momma sighed under the weight of her armor. She’d overheard a rumor about how the scientists in the research labs were testing materials for a new sets of armor suits. From what she heard, they'd be able to filter out toxins and adapt to extreme climates. Meaning if she had one, she wouldn't have to be so sweaty. The underground air somehow felt heavier than her armor, and she hated it. To her right, a strange orange fluid oozed out of an exposed section of stone cavern. Just ahead of the orange pouring liquid, there was a break in the alien walls. The door was shut, but Big Momma saw greenish figures dart past the sizeable opening in the walls and head towards the alien door. 

    “Shoot the door!” Big Momma warmed up her LMG. 

    Her confused teammates followed her orders anyways as Big Momma’s lasers punctured the door, opening it. Plasma bolts, shotgun lasers, and a sniper laser followed Big Momma’s lasers. Having tracked the alien, Stella landed all of her shots, but it wasn’t enough to kill the muton. Yang’s experience with hasty precision allowed her to hit the second muton, but her laser wasn’t enough to kill her target either. Quickly, Spitfire reached the door before the first muton did. Using the door as cover, she turned and shot the muton down before it made it through the open doorway. The second muton reached for a grenade clipped to its armor, but before its hand so much as touched the grenade, Marathon shot it twice in the chest. With its dying breath, the muton let go of its weapon.

    Hydra moved to the other side of the doorframe as Yin positioned herself behind Spitfire. Both of them readied their shotguns and listened carefully. Nearby, an alien's feet crashed against the sloped ground, approaching carelessly. Thankfully, Hydra knew exactly which type of alien would do something like that. Once it was within proper range, Hydra swung around the wide door frame. The barrel of her shotgun was inches away from the berserker’s chest when she fired. With a sickening crunch, the shotgun’s lasers sent the creature back, but it still stood. Hydra fired again. The berserker’s armor finally shattered, breaking apart like the shell of a boiled egg. Before Hydra could fire a third time, Yin stood up take a shot of her own at the alien. 

    “Poor thing.” Yin thought half sarcastically.

    Her green plasma seared through its flesh as her shots soared in between the exposed sections of berserker armor. It didn’t have the capacity to roar a final time before it tumbled down the ramp.

    “Is everyone alright?” Hydra asked. The five other girls nodded their heads while they reloaded their weapons. 

    After subtly nodding back, Hydra motion for them to press forward together. They slowly approached two sets of downward ramps that lead to yet another deck. Because there was a division between the ramps, Hydra took the left ramp with Spitfire while Big Momma took the right with Marathon. Yin hung back to cover Yang as Yang prepared to snap her attention to either ramp.

    “There’s two of them.” Marathon called out.

    From behind the corner of the ramp, she fired at an unsuspecting muton. Her shot landed just below the muton’s right shoulder, and the creature roared before ducking behind some cover. Now with her back pressed against cover, she didn’t see that the second alien was approaching her.

    Yang saw the creature and prepared to fire as she warned “Marathon, watch out!” 

    The berserker didn’t flinch as Yang’s laser beam soared to the left of the its face, and continued running towards Marathon. Sounds of heavy footsteps became louder and more clear to Big Momma and Marathon as the berserker emerged at the top of the ramp. Big Momma had been revving up her LMG, but she started the process too late. It roared to reinforce its presence before sending its angry red fist hard into Marathon’s chest plate. 

    All Marathon saw was a flash of crimson and a large mass hurtle towards her. Soon, she experienced an unfamiliar floating sensation as she was sent flying backwards. Her weapon escaped her hands and cracks began to spider web across her chest armor. Marathon’s vision faded to black before her limp shell of a body hit the ground.

    “No!” Big Momma cried out as lasers escaped her weapon.

    Countless rounds of lasers hit the back of the exposed berserker’s head until it turned around. It still wasn’t dead. By then, Big Momma’s fear had been completely replaced with an insatiable rage; with her rage came artificial courage. While firmly holding her position, she eyed down the berserker as she fired another barrage of lasers directly at its face. The dead berserker landed where Marathon had stood, while Marathon began to push herself up with one arm at a time. 

    “Big Momma, I need you right now.” said Spitfire, grabbing Big Momma’s attention.

    Spitfire had crept forward while the berserker attacked, and she had spotted an uncommon enemy. Meekly, Marathon flashed Big Momma a thumbs up and flashed a smile, despite wearing a helmet. With a grin of her own, Big Momma ran down the ramp to join Spitfire. 

    “I need you to suppress that thing when I run out of ammo.” Spitfire told Big Momma.

    Both soldiers looked at the creature Spitfire had spotted. The peculiar subject hadn’t seen them yet, or at least didn’t seem to care. Big Momma knew that Spitfire and Hydra could have easily killed the creature on their own if they wanted to, which meant that Hydra had something up her sleeve. It was roughly 50 feet away and seemed to be on the final platform of the underground facility. There were no other branching paths or ramps. 

    From a larger distance, any of them would have mistaken it for a regular sectoid. Short, gray, slimy, buggy eyes, the whole sectoid package. Except for one thing: the back of its head looked abnormally large and swollen.

    Spitfire stood up from her cover, and the abnormal sectoid turned around defensively as if it knew what was about to happen. Plasma bolts rained down around the creature, forcing it to duck behind cover. As Big Momma predicted, Hydra sprinted past them with her shotgun. Bolts from Spitfire’s rifle came out at a slower rate as she carefully plotted her last few shots. But, a clattering noise coming towards them caught their attention before Spitfire emptied her clip. Both Spitfire and Big Momma looked down at their feet and saw an alien grenade roll between them. They shielded themselves from impact as the force of the alien grenade caused them to stagger backwards, but not enough to knock them down. Fragments of the railing they had been using for cover skidded across the floor as a muton with plasma wounds roared in celebration.

    Although they were exposed, Spitfire determined that there wasn’t enough time to move. She trained her sights on the muton who had just attacked her, the same one that Marathon lost track of earlier, and delivered a killing shot. Big Momma took over cover-duty as quickly as she could, with Hydra still making her way towards the sectoid.

    “I’m in range!” announced Hydra. She was too far away to use her shotgun, but she was close enough to get a good shot off with her sidearm.

    She flanked the sectoid from the side and fired her laser pistol at its bulbous head. Her shot connected with the occipital bulge, and the creature raised its arms in pain. Since Yin was too far away to hit the special sectoid, she moved towards Marathon, and the two prepared to cover each other. However, Yang had a good line of sight with the target, and she decided not to use her critical targeting systems. 

    “Deep breath in, sight, adjust, and...” Yang said to herself.

    Her laser pierced through the sectoid’s chest, but didn’t kill it. Just as she planned. What she didn’t expect was for the sectoid to stand up again and fight. It turned towards Big Momma as purple energy began to materialize around it’s head. The psionic waves, as the soldiers have come to know it as, appeared to be more concentrated than the psionic waves produced by regular sectoids. They lashed out towards Big Momma faster than any of them could comprehend. Soon enough, Big Momma arced her back inwards and cried out in pain. She fell to her knees and crumpled to the ground without saying another word, and a message popped onto her teammates’ HUDs: “Lt. Quin is critically wounded and will bleed out in 3 turns. She can be stabilized with a medikit”. 

    Marathon looked at Spitfire.

    “Don’t worry,” she said to Marathon reassuringly, “I’ll help you.”

    Hydra ran up to the almost-dead sectoid before it could do anything else and aimed her shotgun at it. She pulled her secondary trigger with the gray device inches away from her target. It’s buggy eyes showed surprise as probes protruded superficially into its skin and delivered a controlled shock, paralyzing it. 

    “I think that’s all of them. Keep your eyes open anyways.” said Hydra while prodding her captured specimen with her foot. 

    Marathon slowly stagger stepped towards Big Momma with her arm slung around Yin’s shoulders for support. Every other step Marathon took sent a claw of pain into where she had been hit, but her desire to save her friend outweighed her pain. With Big Momma at her feet, Marathon got on her knees and produced her medikit. It was her first time treating a psionic wound, but her training stuck with her. 

    First, she laid out Big Momma’s body into the supine position. Then, she removed Big Momma’s helmet. Her eyes were shut, but her face was still contorted in pain. Marathon felt Big Momma’s forehead.  _ Warm _ . She directed the medikit at Big Momma’s forehead and began spraying the restorative mist. 

    Marathon stood and clipped the medikit to her hip, “There, she’s been stabilized, but she still needs serious medical attention. Someone needs to carry her.”

    “I can do it.” offered Hydra. 

    “Spitfire, take the prisoner. Yin, take point.” she continued, “We’re going home, girls.”


	4. Operation Fire Break

    “Central, this is Big Sky requesting immediate backup.” the pilot keyed in as he used every scrap of false courage he could muster.

    The vulture-like screams of plasma fire echoed through the skies. Captain Hydra felt uneasy as the skyranger’s hull sizzled in various places. The captured sectoid commander rattled in its restraints as the ship rumbled, still unconscious.

    Fireteam Nylar’s squad leader looked around the room at her squadmates hopelessly. Every inch of spine in her wanted to do something, anything, to protect her team, but her options were reduced to praying that the interceptors would make it in time.

    “Request confirmed. Interceptors are on their way.” Bradford said into the microphone. “Hang tight, Big Sky.”

    Bradford motioned at an aide beside him, and she frantically tapped keys into her tablet. A soft whoosh was heard throughout the underground headquarters as the hangar bays opened, and the loud slingshot booms immediately followed.

    “Godspeed.” whispered Bradford.

    The Commander joined Bradford by his side, and an interface appeared over the hologlobe. A view of two interceptors approaching two alien ships materialized.

 

    The next plasma shot rumbled the skyranger. Between the girls, the incapacitated sectoid commander jostled in place. A disconcerting groan became impossible to ignore, detailing the ship’s declining ability to support its own weight.

    “Should we jump?” Hydra poked her head into the cockpit to ask Big Sky.

    Big Sky didn’t turn away from the readings in front of him, “Negative, soldier. We’re too high up for that.”

    Hydra didn’t need all of the pilot’s fancy readings and visuals to understand that the skyranger wouldn’t last another shot. Not only were they out-gunned, but they were out-engined as well. Through the cockpit window, Hydra watched twin blasts of plasma soar past.

    “I’m not gonna lie, girls.” Big Sky turned around, “We can’t take another hit.”

    Like magic, plasma bolts rocked the skyranger before those words had a chance to register. Hydra barely had enough time to strap into her seat before things went fully awry. The ship skewed at an angle, but unlike the previous times it skewed, the skyranger was incapable of returning to its proper orientation. With its balance thrown off, the skyranger slowly began to spiral out of control.

    “Central, this is Big Sky, we are going down, I repeat, we are going down!”

    The centrifugal force forced each soldier into their own seats, but Hydra gripped her harness bar all the same. Across of her, Big Momma and Marathon were only beginning to regain consciousness.

    Seconds away from impact, the pilot turned, “Brace yourselves!”

 

 

 

    “Yin, get up.”

    “...”

    “Come on, I’ll carry you.”

    Yin’s head throbbed. Her vision was grainy to the point where she preferred shutting them, though she could still tell she was laying on her back. Soon, the scent of smoke attacked her nostrils. Her eyes shot open, and through her clouded vision she saw that Yang towering on top of her. To the right of them, Spitfire and Hydra were carrying the sectoid commander out of the smoldering skyranger.

    Yang lifted the safety bars holding Yin in place and allowed her friend to stand. True to Yin’s suspections, the skyranger was resting on its side.

    “Here.” Yang slung one of Yin’s arms over her shoulders.

    Yin grinned at the realization that she, the support unit, was being supported by her sniper friend. Gently, Yin followed Yang’s guidance down to cover besides Big Momma.

    Hydra knelt beside the body of a man in a black suit. A pilot’s helmet lay beside the body.

    She looked up at Spitfire, “He’s gone.”

    Spitfire shook her head, “He gave everything for us.”

    Marathon held up a silencing finger, her focus trained intently on the dense treelines beside them. Others followed her gaze. Yin leaned an arm against her rock cover and turned herself over just to leer in the proper direction. Then, she saw it. _No, them._

    Tiny gray bodies slipped between the trees with ease. Marathon raised her rifle and hoped that one of them would step into her range.

    “There!” Big Momma shouted next to her.

    Wood splintered with sickening cracks, cracks sharper than the low hum of Big Momma’s LMG. Lucky shots made it clean through several trees, while others hit not-so-lucky sectoids.

    “They’re heading for the captive.” Big Momma reloaded as she reported.

     _They_. There were still at least two more sectoids continuing their mad scramble for their captured commander, and every last one of them was just beyond Marathon’s range. She eyed the trees between her and the sectoid commander, then took of running.

    Half of a protest escaped Big Momma. She shook her head instead, then watched her friend from behind the barrel of a primed LMG.

    A floater began to descend upon Marathon. With its entire body in the open, Big Momma had no trouble pumping the floater chock full with laser rounds. It would continue to descend until it crashed into the dirt, erupting into a splash of orange flame.

    While the orange died down, green kicked up around Marathon. Another floater had dipped below the fog into plain view, flaunting it’s heavier set of armor pieces than the one prior.

    Big Momma fired all the same, but the heavy floater ate Big Momma’s laser rounds carelessly. It’s only reaction was in the form of casual readjustments to realign itself with its target. It reached out an outstretched hand that hovered feet away from Marathon’s back, ready to fire.

    Instead of a fleshy back, the heavy floater received an acutely placed bolt of green plasma. It spiraled out of control, falling, falling, until an obstructive tree barred its path. Not that it would have mattered; the heavy floater met the same fate as the floater Big Momma had taken down.

    At last, Marathon was the first to reach the clearing with their incapacitated captive. She dug into the ground with a kneel and fired at the sectoids coming in second. None of them set foot past the break in the treeline.

    “Ready when you are.” she nodded at Big Momma from across the field. Marathon shouldered her rifle.

    Big Momma nodded back. She looked both ways, partially expecting another interceptor to come careening by in time to splatter her against its alien surface. Her stoic strides were convincing to outward observers, but what her teammates couldn’t see was the frightened little girl cowering beneath the layers of armor and husk.

    Leaves and pine crunched carelessly somewhere behind her. Before she had the chance to turn, Marathon’s plasma fire zinged the exact spot the sound was coming from. More shuffles, then a thud. The crunches wouldn’t follow.

    Once beside Marathon, Big Momma turned on a dime and surveyed the woods she’d just abandoned. _Something green, something gray_. It was her job to paint it all laser red.

    Yin sprinted past Spitfire and shouted, “Berserker, run!”

    Spitfire ignored the statement for a moment to finish off the muton she’d caught sneaking towards Hydra. By the time she registered the statement, it was too late. She looked over her shoulder to find herself standing before and equally surprised berserker staring at her through its cold, red goggles. At least, she hoped they were goggles. _When did it get so hard to move?_

    Three rounds from a pistol hit the beast’s shoulder, chest, then neck.

    “Keep it comin’!” Yin taunted.

    The berserker peeled it’s attention away from Spitfire, then charged towards Yin. It staggered four, maybe five steps before Yang popped its head from the safety of her sniper cradle.

    “Oh!” Spitfire panicked upon seeing the scurry of chryssalids approaching her.

    She instinctively raised her plasma rifle. Her barrel couldn’t seem to pick between the three spiny creatures closing in on her. Instead, Spitfire dropped her hand to her belt. She unclasped a plasma grenade and let it cook.

    Even with their unnervingly dead appearance, the chrysalids appeared to collectively carry malicious intent.

    Spitfire tossed the grenade between the encroaching flesh monsters. SHe was relieved to see the grenade detonate roughly when she anticipated it would. Her assailants reeled back. She took this opportunity to flee. Quick potshots over the shoulder would have to do.

    To her dismay, Spitfire learned that the four legs on each of them diminished her advantage; the creatures had already regained their momentum as if nothing had happened.

    “It’s getting hot over here!” Marathon called out from her end of the field.

    “Here too!” Spitfire ducked at the sound of Yang’s sniper rifle.

    One chryssalid fell. After blind firing and a shoulder peak, Spitfire found that she’d dropped the second one too. _But where’d th-_

    Something behind Spitfire had thrown her off her feet and wildly into the ground. Her fingers first brushed against the unscathed sections of her back armor plating until they came across a ridge. A second ridge? No, the same ridge…

    There was a giant slash across her back.

    The chryssalid swiped a second time and hit nothing, as Spitfire had managed to roll to the side in time. It went for a third slash, but flinched upon being fired at from three different directions. It slumped to its feet, but Spitfire refused to believe that it was dead. She aimed her weapon true at the beast at her feet.

     _Click-click-click!_

    She let the gun fall to her side, then cursed herself after thrusting her fingers harshly against a rock. Her fingers started to go numb― _why now?_ ―   and Spitfire’s suspicions came true: The chryssalid began to stand.

    Two bullets was all it took. It’s corpse slumped down in the exact same way until Hydra kicked it away from her.

    “Thank you.” Spitfire said as Hydra pulled her up.

    Hydra pressed her hand against Spitfire’s back and pushed her away, “Go!”

    Instead, Spitfire turned the dirt beneath her feet with a pivot. Her plasma fire combined with Hydra’s shotgun lasers made a collective effort to take down one last chryssalid.

    “Ready now.” Spitfire stated rather than asked.

    The pseudo-question was dropped at the appearance of a faint hum. Hydra looked up at Spitfire quizzically. Hydra looked around, over each of her shoulders, then tapped the side of her own helmet questioningly.

    Spitfire nodded, “I hear it too.”

     _Rumbling?_ Unless if The Commander had sent a semi-truck plowing its way through the forest, something big and bad was on its way. It shrieked a low pitched shriek now so loud it was impossible to deny. _Something big. Something bad._

    “It sounds like…” Hydra shook the nonsensical implication out of her head.

    The aircraft sent a deafoning yet familiar boom as it initiated it’s secondary thrusters behind the remnants of Fireteam Nylar. Despite being above the treetops, its ramps opened up to them. The first soldier held his sniper rifle in one hand and his hip in the other. The second soldier stood similarly, though the second carried a shotgun and used his free hand to hold a railing fixed against this new skyranger.

    The new skyranger began to descend, but plasma bolts the same size of the ones that blew up the first skyranger appeared once more. Six ropes unspooled from the new skyranger’s tail. The XCOM operative with the shotgun was the first to leap off of the ramp. Five others followed suit. A full squadron.

    “Central, this is Firebrand. Reinforcements Fireteam Industria has been deployed.”

 

    “Get down!” Marathon tackled Big Momma to the ground.

    Above them, the air turned into brilliant streaks of green. Trees on the other end of the clearing groaned in response.

    “Marathon, Big Momma, hold your ground!” Rabid’s voice filled their helmets, “I’m sending Casanova and Vex to assist.”

    “Fuck!” Marathon swung into cover before dropping her weapon. She clutched her left shoulder and pushed herself up against a low log.

    Big Momma was taken aback for a moment. For the first time in their years together, this was the first time she’d heard Marathon utter a semblance of a profanity. The next thing Big Momma noticed were Marathon’s barred teeth― the way she breathed through them irregularly like her lungs were having an identity crisis. Last to arrive wherever registered thoughts go were the exposed sections of Marathon’s armor and the charred flesh beneath. Her breath seemed to calm once she noticed Big Momma staring.

    “I know.” she grumbled. She sourly snatched her assault rifle off the ground and let off a lazy burst of blind-fire before sitting back down. The weapon raised once more, but this time it was pointed at the allies approaching them. “Take _it_ to _them_.”

    To Big Momma, the mere action of nodding felt like a betrayal. She would’ve taken a court martialing in an instant. But, she nodded anyways, if to at least give her friend assurance.

    “Covering fire!” Vex announced his own arrival. Before the heavy muton could fire, Vex battered it down with his heavy laser LMG.

    Darting between the treelines to avoid enemy fire, Casanova finally appeared beside Big Momma. He stood briefly to fire his laser rifle indiscriminately.

    Casanova traded his laser rifle for his pistol before uttering “Target secure.” He had the creature in a damsel’s carry. He turned to Big Momma, “Follow me.”

    All she had time to do was nod the dreaded nod that Casanova didn’t bother waiting to see. In that short expanse of time, Marathon’s second outcry stole Big Momma’s attention. Marathon hand hovered above the same shoulder from before.

    Without hesitation, Big Momma’s rocket launcher was locked onto her shoulder and she had taken a firm stance.

    Simultaneously, a thin man dropped from a distant tree and fired his weapon at Marathon. Instantly.

    Just as quickly as the slender alien had appeared, Big Momma’s friend had left the land of the living. She didn’t allow this thought to jade her as she aimed through tear-slicken eyes. Her aim steadied dead on the head of a cocky heavy muton. She fired.

    Trees around where the beast had once stood splintered, groaned, and shuddered in Big Momma’s aftermath. Both the muton and its weapon were in fragmented pieces, accompanied only by a small handful of lesser aliens.

    “Move!” she thought she heard Casanova say.

     _Why?_ Moving didn’t seem worth the effort. She could see Kingplay wildly waving his arms in her direction, motioning… somewhere. A laser pistol beam zapped across her view, so she followed that too. Dead thin man.

    Big Momma coughed a wet cough. The wet one spiraled into a series of dryer ones until her lungs demanded her knees to buckle, putting her on all fours. She inhaled deep as she pondered how blood had managed to get _inside_ of her visor, but the inhale only made things worse. It wasn’t until she noticed that her coughs were the ones tinting her visor did she realize what was happening: her mind was just as clouded as the gas she was now doubled over in.

    Hydra couldn’t ignore the approaching rustling behind her anymore. The way they covered ground faster than her and her teammates could was too much to bear. She swung herself around and fired at the berserker. Its sluggish recovery gave her more time than she needed to reload her shotgun. Foolishly, the red gargantuan went for a punch it would never make. Two rapid shots from Hydra’s shotgun made that certain.

    She tensed instinctively at the sound of plasma fire, then relaxed slightly once she realized it was coming from her side. Spitfire’s plasma bolts splashed against a chryssalid that Hydra wouldn’t have noticed in time to deliver the killing shotgun blow.

    “Another on the left!” Spitfire snapped to it and pulled the trigger.

    It only made a clicking sound. Hastily, she ejected the magazine and jammed a fresh one in there.

    Hydra readied her shotgun at the creature’s approaching ahead, but to no result. Save for a click with each trigger pull. She threw down the weapon, took a couple steps back, then fired her sidearm fiercely at the chryssalid that was impossibly close.

    By the time Spitfire looked up again, the horrifying creature was already cowering above Hydra with its second claw attack ready to come down like a firing pin. The sheer force of Spitfire’s barrage caused it to lose its footing. It died mushed up against the ground like the bug it was.

    A floater dipped below the treeline to fire, but it never made it back to the safety of the above. Spitfire had countered its plasma fire with her own.

    Spitfire’s eyes didn’t want to move. Perhaps it was because deep down she already knew, or perhaps it was because she technically didn’t know for sure. Her brain refused to settle with the former. Her eyes obeyed.

    Hydra was laying with her back against the mud. If you ignored the evidence of plasma, plasma that simply hadn’t been there just minutes ago, she would have almost looked peaceful.

     _Sit_ . That was the one thing that reverberated in Spitfire’s mind. _Just sit. It’ll be over soon_.

    But, she didn’t. She put one foot behind the other until steps became paces, until paces became a jog. That jog blossomed into a full sprint. All of the friendly covering fire, the sniper rounds and the heavy laser fire whizzing past her sides and over her head, failed to comfort her. Every step jostled a couple extra tears free from her eyelids, staining her cheeks faster than she wanted.

     _Fail_. That was the new echoing thought. Her full sprint evolved into a primal burst of energy.

    “Spitfire-” Yin started.

    Spitfire jumped behind cover, “Just keep an eye on the captive.”

    Back past the clearing, Casanova and Vex were hunkered behind trees. Instead of the captive, their hands were occupied with their weapons and triggers. Yin took a step towards them, but plasma fire ushered her to seek cover behind a trashed log. Just as the log began to give in, Kingplay suppressed the source of the enemy plasma bolts with his own.

    “Lieutenant Yin!” he motioned for him to approach.

    Behind him, Spitfire made a sprint towards the captive.

    Gingerly, she took a crouched step away from her cover. One bolt flew at her from behind, another lone bolt flew in the opposite direction. Another step. Yin dashed forward. There was a roar, then a hail of plasma bullets from both directions. None of them would hit her.

    Once behind fresher cover, Yin let herself take a moment to herself. The land indentation was one of the more reliable cover sources she’d come across that mission. It was spacious enough to accomodate herself, Kingplay, and Yang, and it also offered additional protection with the tall tree erected directly atop its ridge.

    Kingplay pointed at something so fleeting that words couldn’t be afforded. Yin understood. She could see floater exhaust lines form a tight trails out and above the treeline.

    The stillness of the treelines was violently disturbed by a wild array of plasma from Kingplay as he sprayed ahead of where he had just pointed. Yang, who hadn’t actually seen where Kingplay pointed, followed his plasma bolts and fired along the same line. Her pistol shots had a smaller spread between rounds, but proved to be equally as ineffective.

    Somewhere above her, Yin heard a scream so fear-inducing that she instantly felt weaker. The screams had sent invisible spears down her spine and through her gut. The floater broke through the treetops and dive bombed towards them with a face filled with hate. A sniper laser beam narrowly missed it.

    As Yin readied her shotgun, she noticed a faint glow in one of the floater’s hands. _Green_. With only a few more yards left to react, she fired her shotgun at the alien directly above her. The stopping power of her laser shotgun spiraled the remains of the floater attached to the jetpack until it collided with a tree, turning into the same brilliant orange explosion that its friend did. Her victory was short lived once the glowing green object rolled into her view.

    Something almost maternal switched on inside Yin. She threw her weapon to the ground and picked up the green object. Spoken words couldn’t be afforded.

     _Faster!_

    The object felt hotter the longer she held it. She rounded her tree cover and chucked the primed alien grenade as hard as she could away from her teammates. She could still feel the warmth of the alien grenade as it left her fingertips.

    Kingplay and Yang braced themselves for the brunt of the explosion, but it never came. Instead, a sickening crunch was heard between them as something heavy hit slammed against the nearby tree.

    “Annette!” Yang cried out.

    Yang appeared around the tree and found Yin crumpled to the ground. Yin’s head drooped lazily with her back pressed against the scorched bark. Leaves fell around them as Yang shook Yin’s shoulder.

    “Come on, Annette!” Evelyn said raw, “Get up!”

    Yin did not move. She began to slump towards the ground until Yang stopped her. She steadied her friend. She put one hand on Yin’s shoulder one final time.

    Just then, a thunderous crash announced the downing of the second and final alien ship. Unscathed XCOM interceptors flew over the sparse treetops.

    “This is Firebrand; we are now ready for evac.” a voice unfamiliar to Yang said through the comm. links.

    In the glades behind them, the second skyranger landed and its ramp opened up.

    “That’s our ticket out of here.” Casanova said to Spitfire. She turned back to the sectoid commander, but Casanova grabbed her arm, “Friends come first.”

    Spitfire broke the weak grasp, “Then this prisoner is my friend.” the two soldiers turned away from each other, “For now.”

     _Fools_. If Spitfire hadn’t known what she was looking for, she would have mistaken the sectoid commander for another fallen xeno. It lay haplessly behind the log. Spitfire did the same to avoid shots from the two approaching sectoids. Propping herself up with a single palm, she fired two shots over the log. With a quick peak, she found them both dead.

    Spitfire pushed herself off the ground and threw herself over the chopped log. This time, a muton appeared to give her hell. She thrust her shoulder against another stable hunk of bark before the plasma shots had a chance to center.

    Her _friend_ was only several yards away. From the safety of her cover, Spitfire unclasped and readied a smoke grenade. Felt the weight of it in her hands. Tossed it up and down. Then, she tossed it atop the sectoid commander.

    The smoke grenade hissed as it plumed out yellow smoke. Spitfire let the cloud dense itself before dashing into it. Plasma bullets lit up the smoke as they whizzed past her, none of them coming close to hitting their mark.

    “I got the captive!” Spitfire called out.

    When she emerged from the fog, she lobbed the gray body over her shoulder before running after Casanova. She only turned to fire back once

    Yang had finally found the strength to leave when she felt something tug at her arm. Then, fingers wrapped around her wrist.

    “Let’s go.” Yin grunted as Yang pulled her up.

    Neither of the two wanted to wait. Every other XCOM soldier in the field was already well on their way to the skyranger. Yang held Yin's hand as she guided her around the piles of wreckage.

    “I think I'm good, Yang, j-"

    Yin's words were cut short when the hiss of plasma splashes ate away at her back. Her grip on Yang's hand released as she flopped onto her stomach, lifeless. Two more orbs of plasma splashed the trees around Yang as Yang saw what the first shot had done to Yin.

    “No, damn it!” roared Yang as she whipped out her laser sniper rifle.

    Insatiable rage filled her as she tried to find the creature that killed her friend. She felt her tears streaming down her face, but she didn't try to stop them.

    “Yang, get over here!” Rabid ordered as he ran, “Bird’s taking off soon!”

    “Negative, Sergeant.” she refused, “This Lieutenant has a bloodlust.”

    At last, Yang saw the creature dart towards her. She only saw its flash of yellow for a split second, but that was enough for her to predict its next move. Her sniper beam struck true, killing the outsider alien that killed Yin. More glowing yellow against the trees announced the presence of more outsider aliens, but a laser beam besides Yang took a second one down.

    Far behind her stood Predator and Kingplay, and within seconds their weapons were alive with covering fire.

    Yang looked at Yin’s body one last time. She took a step in the direction her heart wanted to go, but oncoming plasma fire ushered her in the other way, the way back to the ship.

    “Switching mags.” said Predator as he reloaded his sniper rifle.

    “Guns dry.” Kingplay said at the same time.

    They shot worried looks at each other. With both Kingplay and Predator reloading, that left neither of them able to cover Yang.

    While the boys were hastened their reload, another soldier stepped between them: Spitfire.

    Her stance was strong yet careful. She fired orb after orb of plasma past Yang. Spitfire surprised herself after managing to hit one of the outsiders from her unconventional range.

    Vex appeared on the ramp of the distant skyranger. Beside him stood Casanova, ready with his laser pistol, while Rabid stood on watch with his shotgun. Their lasers took over, allowing Spitfire, Yang, Predator, and Kingplay to run back.

    “Firebrand, be advised, there are more hostile ships moving on your location.” Bradford said through open comms.

    “Strap in within 12 seconds or you’re getting left behind!” Firebrand warned the soldiers.

    Casanova shouted behind him, “They need more time!”

    Firebrand said nothing. Instead, she broadcasted a timer onto each soldier’s HUDs, then primed the skyranger’s engines.

     _9...8...7..._

    Second by second, the timer ticked closer and closer to zero on Spitfire’s HUD. She was grateful that she had invested time into sprints training, but it bothered her that Yang was somewhere behind her. Even if she was able to see Yang, Spitfire knew there wasn’t enough time to cover her or help her in any meaningful way.

    Yang wasn’t quite as fast as the others, but she still covered good ground with each stride. The one soldier she was faster than was Kingplay, but Kingplay was closer to the skyranger when the countdown began. Of the train of soldiers racing back towards the skyranger, she was the caboose. Her position made her the more desirable target for the pursuing aliens, but she didn’t care. There was only one outsider left, but the concentration of plasma flying past her suggested more xenos had joined the mobile firing line.

     _4...3...2..._

    At last, Yang’s feet crashed onto metal plating just as it started to rise beneath her. She threw herself forward onto the passenger bay and firmly grasped the leg of a chair in her hands, having only seconds to spare before the skyranger rapidly accelerated away from the AO. Her spine stretched, but her death grip on the chair kept her from ending up against the closing wall.

    It didn’t take long for the skyranger to reach its top speed. As Yang stood up on one knee, she realized Firebrand was talking to her. To them. Something about an enemy fighter closing in. Before it could fire, two interceptors soared past the skyranger and released their armaments upon its attackers. The alien ship scrambled to avoid the missiles, breaking its path away from the skyranger.

    There was a thick loop hanging from the ceiling. Yang grabbed it to keep herself grounded to the aircraft’s floor. She felt eyes on her, but by the time she looked up at Spitfire, Spitfire’s gaze went right through her.

    Occupying the center of the passenger cabin was the unmoving sectoid commander. The way it was secured was similar to the way it was less than an hour ago.

    Spitfire’s expression went blank. As far as she was concerned, Big Sky never crashed. She was sent to eliminate the underground facility with Fireteam Industria and Yang. The Sectoid Commander was their evidence.

    “Hey,” Kingplay interrupted Spitfire’s thoughts, “is everything alright?”

    Spitfire shrugged with a grunt. She glanced at Yang, but no eye contact was made. She gestured at the paralyzed alien, furrowing her brows and said “Little bastard better be hiding something good.”


	5. Operation Mios Vital Ruins

     _XCOM Operatives Lost: 0_.  

    Kina Yamura screamed at the line and the one below it. The second line read: _Mission Failed_. Her hand tugged at the collarbone of her chest piece, afraid to inflict the brunt of her sensations upon anything else. Everything else in the room was too valuable.

     _He promised_.

    Kina choked back as many tears as she could, but she moistened the metal ground between her palms all the same.

     _He promised._

 

    Dale Perkley bowed his head down to avoid the low hanging frame of the Skyranger. He envisioned himself making a beeline for the barracks, but a voice was enough to wash away any chance of that happening with any semblance of peace.

    “Where is she? Let go, dammit!” Kina howled out as a yellow-suit officer from Intelligence tried to hold her back, “You promised you’d bring her home!”

    Between Dale and Kina stood several scores of distance. That space was occupied by a reluctant welcoming committee. The crowd was brimming with heads bowed down, eyes trained on the ground, each standing officer matching Dale’s own mannerisms as he descended the ramp. Unforseen between the standing bodies lingered the intoxicating essence of a broken promise― an invisible force that suffocated Dale and Kina alike.

    Dale turned away from Kina and walked towards the barracks. Running footsteps approached him from behind, and a hand on his shoulder whirled him around.

    “Julia. Where is she?” Kina carefully spaced out each word.

     _I can’t say._ Dale urged his thoughts to form into words, but his tongue betrayed him. It’s not like he would have been lying if he had said them.

    When Dale turned away again, Kina didn’t follow.

  


    Kina “Valkyrie” Yamura’s finger hung in the trigger guard of her sniper rifle. Her crosshairs alternated between centering on the distant outline of a helmet and the sniper rifle held by the same concealed soldier. How badly Valkyrie wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger on that chest. Or the head. She flashed the crosshairs to the concealed helmet once more and imagined just for a moment what it would be like if she had pulled the trigger right then and there.

    “Fall back,” she sighed into her radio, “We’re calling off the mission.”

    Allison “Mumu” Reeves replied with “On the move.” after she slung her grenade launcher over her shoulder.

    “Already gone.” Meana “Masamune” Taremi answered truthfully.

    “No-show?” Crissy “Dolby” Burson sent her GREMLIN away.

    “Worse.” Valkyrie peeled herself away from her sniper nest atop the hotel building, “It’s Chimera Squad.”

 

    Flooding twin lights were the last to arrive on the scene. By then, Valkyrie had already used the ample time she had to triple check her work. She’d tucked herself into an alcove facing the building that her squad had just fled from. Across the open way to her right stood Dolby with her GREMLIN, and beside her, Mumu. Only Masamune remained in the hotel. Three of Chimera’s men crept towards the hotel. Unbeknownst to them, they were stumbling blindly into Valkyrie Squad’s _impondo zenkomo_.

    Valkyrie held her breath as their hunters passed an invisible line. _Was this what Julia saw? Cold, unnerving force? A shadowy figure as visible as dust, yet as destructive as a monsoon?_ She washed the thought out of her mind. Julia wasn’t able to face off Dale on her own, yet now there were three more soldiers just like him armed to the teeth, each one of them itching to find the distinct blood-red-and-black armor paint of a Valkyrie Squad member.

     _None of them will walk away._ Valkyrie’s certainty set fire to her patchwork heart. Her thoughts ignited the flames she’d need to carry all of her girls back home. She promised she would.

    There was a pause. Each of the three figures― _where’d the fourth go?_ ―  stopped at the base of the hotel and craned their necks upward. The one called “Donatella” backpedaled to prime her grenade launcher before pointing it at the sky. Valkyrie gleaned their weapons, and only then did she understand what was bothering her.

    “Watch out for Chimera.” Valkyrie used her squad link, “He’s down here somewhere.”

    She envisioned Chimera crawling on his stomach beneath the many parked cars surrounding the area with his sniper rifle strapped to his back.

    The sound of an explosion pulled Valkyrie’s gaze back up to the hotel’s upper floors. Her eyes paid more attention to the chunks of falling debris than her ears did to the booming echoes of the detonation.

    Three identical grappling hooks dug their way into the brick wall above the gaping side crater. Within seconds, Chimera’s men would be in the hall with one of Valkyrie’s girls.

    “Eyes up, Masamune, you’ve got three targets moving on you.” Valkyrie warned.

    Valkyrie could hear the smile in Masamune’s voice as she whispered “I know.”

    Unconcealed, the Chimeras flicked on their flashlights and peered down the hallway where Masamune lay in wait. Two of them turned to check the other end of the hall.  

    Soon, the Chimera unit named “Ark” was falling through the air. His free arm and his legs flailed wildly upon discovering that they were no longer grounded. His GREMLIN descended with him.

    A shotgun blast went off, and Catharus was thrown out of Masamune’s floor as a result. A second shotgun blast went off, but Chimera’s ranger unit “Donatella” was the one still standing instead.  Valkyrie’s sights were already resting cleanly above Donatella’s shoulder, but she again found her finger twitching hungrily between her trigger and its loop. The chance escaped her with a dive roll. She didn't mind. Her bullets were reserved for one person in particular.

    “She’s trying to flank me!” Masamune’s concealment fell as she peeled her back up off of the floor. She dove behind a wall of her own to use as cover like the combatant before her.

    On the ground floor, Ark fired wildly at Dolby’s rapidly approaching GREMLIN, but to no avail. It detonated a capacitor discharge that threw both he and Catharus aside. The GREMLIN returned to a Dolby waiting safely in full cover.

     _Crack!_

    “Enemy sniper!” Dolby called out as she scrambled backwards for new cover, ignoring the welting pain in her shoulder.

    Valkyrie whipped around her alcove corner to find herself looking at nothing but the tires of cars and concrete planters. With a sigh, she traded her sniper rifle for her sidearm and crept towards the patch of concrete and cars where Chimera had fired from.

    Back in the darkened hallways of the hotel, Masamune dashed towards Donatella. Her adversary pivoted her corner with a shotgun of her own, but Masamune was ready with her twin tiger moon blades. Her first strike swept Donatella’s shotgun upwards, wasting the shot at the ceiling. The bladed hilt of her second moon sword struck Donatella’s chin from below. With another quick swipe, Donatella’s shotgun was ripped from her fingers and flung down the hallway away from her.

    In one fluid draw, Donatella unsheathed her sword and brought its blade upwards for an underarm strike. Such a strike was easily swept with a circular motion from Masamune’s moon blade, leaving Donatella’s chest open to multiple jabs with the sharp crescent fixed to the guard of her hilt.

    Donatella cried out before Masamune was kicked away with a push.

    On the ground floor, Catharus slammed her chain gun atop the concrete fixture she was using for cover and let off a stream of magnetic bolts at Mumu. Each round degraded Mumu’s cover until the last shot left it decimated beyond use.

    Mumu refused to budge. She promptly fired a toxic grenade into the air. A faint green line of smoke plumed behind it as it arced.  It bounced only once before dribbling between Ark and Catharus.

    Catharus saw the toxinogen-loaded canister in time to find appropriate cover, but Ark was caught completely in it’s blast. As he fell to his feet, Chimera rose to his.

    Valkyrie took the opportunity to fire one round into Chimera’s chest with her sidearm. A second round from her sidearm met with his head. Her arm became a blur as she managed to pop off one shot each on Catharus and Ark before ducking to avoid the return fire. Even with most of her body behind cover, a round from Chimera’s sidearm struck her side. She condensed herself even harder against her concrete planter.  

    Donatella struck Masamune’s rib cage, but made the mistake of attempting an overhead strike. Masamune had Donatella’s sword caught between her opposing hooks as if in a vice. A kick against Donatella’s hips sent the Chimera unit reeling into the cheap hotel wall without her sword in her hands.

    Masamune stared her down, waiting. _Donatella, the deer in the headlights._ She spun her blades in her hands and smiled. She knew Donatella wouldn’t be able to see the way her lips were curled or the way she flashed her teeth, but she couldn’t help but smile anyways. Donatella desperately faked a step to Masamune’s left before diving towards the discarded shotgun. Swinging both blades down, Masamune hooked Donatella’s back and pulled her prey closer towards her.

    Masamune leaned close to the back of Donatella’s neck to whisper, “Let’s do this again, sometime.”

    Donatella’s hands flashed forward one last time, outstretched towards her shotgun, but it was too late. Masamune buried both of her bladed hilts into either side of Donatella’s neck until the struggling stopped.  

    There was a brief lull in the enemy sniper fire. Concerned, Valkyrie peaked her corner. Her arm was swinging up to aim when a sniper shot soared between her shoulder and her head. She ducked back down and touched the surface of her helmet to check for damage

    “Dolby, I need you to flank Chimera!” Valkyrie called out, “He’s somewhere on your left!”

    Dolby glanced at the arrangement of cars and low coverings to her side, “You got it, boss.”

    She waited for a moment. Magnetic fire hit the section of her concrete cover where ballistic fire had been wasted moments earlier. After she sprayed a short counter-burst from behind her cover, Dolby dashed away from the concrete fixture and hunkered behind the nearest car. Time trudged on while she sat in cover, waiting for any sign of relief. A couple enemy rounds continued to strike the pillar she’d left behind. _That would be enough_ , she chuckled.

    As Dolby crept along the concrete planters, Mumu readied her chain gun at car across the block and held down the trigger. It detonated, and Catharus was soon knocked back several feet from the initial explosion. She scrambled for cover as the faint glow of a dark blue GREMLIN tailed her.

    Dolby was shocked to find Chimera crouched on one knee, aiming meticulously at the exact spot Valkyrie was hiding behind. She wasn’t sure which was more peculiar: how intent he was on getting a shot off on Valkyrie, or the fact that his obliviousness was about to let her do what she was about to do.

    Chimera arched his back as he took several, uninterrupted rounds from Dolby’s assault rifle. He needed both of his hands to catch himself.

    To Dolby, she felt like she’d been shoved into the ground before she even had the chance to let go of the trigger. Her vision spun, undecidedly switching between growing darker and growing brighter. Through the spinning images, she worked out that the car before her was ablaze. _There were two gunshots before the explosion_.

    Through the center lane of what had become the battle zone, Chimera ran diagonally towards Catharus with his sidearm cupped in both of his hands.

    Despite the glows of a charging mag cannon pointed dead at her, Valkyrie stood tall with her sniper rifle, led her shot, and fired. She allowed her chestplate to eat several magnetic rounds before crouching back down.

    “Did I get him?” she said through gritted teeth and heavy breaths.

    Mumu was the first to answer, “Damn, you decked him in the back of the head! He jus― one second, Catharus is trying to rush towards him.” Mumu took pause to fire her own set of magnetic rounds, “And...now she’s dead.”

    Valkyrie stood for another shot, but Chimera was already out of sight.

    “Dolby, you need me to pick you up?” she asked.

    “Nah, no. You guys go. I’ll catch up. In a bit.” Dolby was staring up at the ceiling with her back flat against the ground.

    Valkyrie leaned over to check on her friend with her own eyes, albeit through a HUD and camera. Her eyes flicked to the vital readings of each of her teammates on the HUD. She looked down at the ground, nodded to herself, then moved from her cover with her rifle in tow.

    “Alright Valkyries, ‘bolt cutter’ maneuver.” she ordered.

    “You got it.” Mumu pushed forward.

    There really was only a small strip of low cover that Chimera and Ark could be hiding behind. Both Mumu and Valkyrie worked towards that spot from opposing angles, like a bolt cutter. They were close; only half a dozen yards remained before they’d be at close combat range with either of the Chimeras.

    Suddenly, a car off to Valkyrie’s side detonated. She wasn’t close enough to get blown back, but she the pain still rippled through her as the explosion caused her to stagger. In the short time it took her to regain her balance and aim, Chimera had already stood himself up and readied an aim of his own on her. Likewise, Ark and Mumu were on their own standoff from the opposite angle.

    “You think you can hurt me with _that_ little thing?” Mumu called out to Ark. She jiggled her mag cannon for emphasis, but Ark’s aim on her held true.

    “Drop your weapon.” Chimera’s voice came crisply out of the speakers of his helmet.

    Valkyrie set her sniper rifle down and raised both hands, “Did you give Julia the same choice?”

    Just as she’d hoped, Valkyrie watched those words soften Chimera like droplets of water on cheap toilet paper. He lowered his sniper, but it was still pointed at her stomach.

    “Now.” Valkyrie commanded using the channel only her team could hear.

    “Val, I shouldn’t say this, b-” Chimera started to say.

    From point-blank range, Masamune discharged a shotgun burst into Ark’s back. He wouldn’t get up again. Shortly after the shotgun blast, ballistic fire materialized out of nowhere and struck Chimera’s lower chest and stomach. Another ballistic burst forced him down onto one knee, causing him to drop his sniper rifle in the process.

    “Did I get him?” Dolby asked mockingly.

    Her smokey barrel swung down to the ground once she moved away from the hunk of concrete that she’d been leaning on. She hobbled towards Chimera.

    Chimera pulled his sidearm from his holster and shrimped away from the approaching Masamune, even though such a maneuver was putting him closer to Valkyrie. His first shot went against one of Masamune’s hands, diverting one of her strikes. His second round wasn’t as lucky. The bullet struck the shoulder of the same hand that had already been shot. He was too late.

    Using her other hand, Masamune used a crescent motion to disarm Chimera. His sidearm clattered, skid, and spun into the nearby roadway before coming to a full stop. Masamune then flipped her weapons in her hands so that she was holding them by their hooked tips, their spiked hilts facing furthest out. Chimera didn’t resist as she drove them both into the ground. Each spike pitched the ground space adjacent to either side of his head in a diagonal fashion, forming a cross section that allowed a thin channel of air above his throat. Like bolt cutters.

    He looked up at Valkyrie, who coincidentally was the only Valkyrie unit who didn’t have a weapon drawn on him, “It wasn’t my fault, you know.”

    Valkyrie squatted down beside Chimera’s head and removed his helmet. She removed hers, and set it beside his. They stared at each other for what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours, but Chimera said nothing more.

    “Nothing?” she asked.

    He shook his head no, careful not to cut his throat on the moon blades.

    She drew her sidearm and pressed it against his neck, “Still nothing?”

    He shook his head no.

    Valkyrie sighed and moved the barrel away from him. She sat down and held her legs in her arms as she looked around at her team. They too had taken off their helmets. Mumu’s hair flowed around her like a suspended river. Even with bloodied temples, Dolby still managed to look her best. And Masamune, she looked the way she always did. That was the terrifying part.

    Valkyrie made sure to look each one of her girls in the eyes as she addressed them, “I think Chimera needs to know how we all felt when he took Julia from us.”

    They each nodded. Smiled, even. No tension.

    Valkyrie swung herself up onto one knee, pressed her free hand against the right side of Chimera’s chest, then fired a single sidearm round directly into his heart.

  


    Masamune grinned as she prodded Donatella’s shoulder over and over again.

    “Fine, you won.” Donatella couldn’t help but take in Masamune’s infectious smile, “This time.”

    “Yes!”

    Mumu rubbed her temples as she removed herself from the VR contraption, “Christ, how did you guys not feel that constant headache?”

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ark stretched his back, “My head feels fine.”

    Mumu looked at each of her friends and teammates with her palms up and a raised brow.

    “Yeah, no, I’m with Ark on this one.” Dolby said. Catharus and Masamune nodded in agreement.

    Such exchanges never failed to warm Valkyrie’s heart, and it certainly didn’t fail then. She looked on as her friends laughed with Chimera’s, then scolded herself for dividing them into the two groups in her head.

    Wordlessly, Chimera sat beside her. There were no words exchanged or shifts in that moment, just silence. Lips sealed, they observed the joy shared amongst their friends.

    Valkyrie finally broke the silence, “I haven’t seen them this way since before the war.”

    “And all it took was putting a couple a rounds into each other.”

    She chuckled and felt Chimera glance at her, but both fell silent again. That silent period wouldn’t last as long as the one prior.

    “Still nothing?” her voice implied a joke, yet her face was expectant.

    “You know, all the way out here-” Chimera softened.

    “-and with the Commander…”

    “...right. We should walk.”

    The banter between fellow soldiers fell short when their temporary boss― a green striped, white coat scientist― entered the pod room. Behind him was another similarly dressed man, though much slimmer in comparison to the Vahlen before him. The slimmer scientist was carrying a briefcase, which he promptly set down onto a table and unpacked it’s contents for all to see: audio recording gear and a laptop for scribing.

    “Captains first,” Dr. Vahlen gestured at Valkyrie and Chimera, “Tell me: How were the virtual mission pods?”

    Chimera started, “Mister Vah-, sorry, _Doctor,_ Vahlen, these machines are beyond real, but-”

    “-why do the weapons look different?” Valkyrie finished.

    Vahlen’s husband smiled, “Ah, I didn’t. A _Vahlen_ would never dream up weapons like those,” he thought back to the now deceased ethereal sitting just one floor below them, “But if our predictions are correct, a _Shen_ will.”


	6. An Eye

    “Fine. We’ll put it to a vote, then.” Duncan sat back in his bunk. “All in favor of defection say  _ ‘aye’ _ .”

    “Aye.” the conviction behind Kyle’s voice fell once he realized that he was alone in his thoughts. “Guys…”   
    “No.” Duncan was adamant, “Dale isn’t the same.”

    “We just watched four of our friends die through a screen!”

    “That’s why the rest of us are staying here to do something about it.”

    By then, Kyle and Duncan were standing so close you wouldn’t have fit two apples between them. Kyle, the smaller of the two, stood stoically where his voice failed otherwise. 

    “I’m with Kyle on this one.” Kinu Okazaki stepped in, “With the Chimeras and Valkyries out, that gives us a good enough headstart.” she threw her hand up, “Aye.” 

    Tremors overtook the base. The days where such tremors shook Kyle were long gone _. _ T _ hat was just the base’s way of breathing.  _ At Kyle’s side, Bud Kanadov only offered an uninterested glance at the growling ventilation. 

    “Shouldn’t we at least welcome back Fireteam Nylar?” Dixon cut in.

    Duncan was quick to answer, “No. We’re settling this now.”

  
  
  


    Even before the skyranger’s ramp touched the ground, medical staff and research staff were pushing past the members of Fireteam Amicus. Spitfire and Yang each had two Industria squad members on either side of them for support. Their helmets were already discarded. Gournies were produced, and the last two surviving members of Fireteam Nylar were carried away. 

    Rabid rolled his shoulder as he approached Lane “Citadel” Rere and his team. 

    “Citadel.” Rabid nodded at him, then turned to the rest, “Fireteam Amicus.”

    “Industria.” Noah “Bunsen” Jan shot quickly, “Where’s the captive?”

    As the men of Fireteam Industria filed out of the skyranger, their trophy w followed behind them. Another gurney had been produced. On it lay the gray-skinned body in question. 

    “We’ll take it from here.” Kerwin “Whisper” Ortega placed a hand to still the hovering gurney, “The Commander wants you to head down to the barracks immediately.”

    Rabid looked back at his own men, then back at the men of Fireteam Amicus. Behind Whisper, Hanna “The Noise” Lindell flicked her eyes at the back of Whisper’s head, then nodded reassuringly at Rabid. 

    “Alright. Thank you.” Rabid motioned his men to follow as he turned to the barracks.

  
  
  


    “Good work, Firebrand. Go ahead and pick up Chimera Squad and Valkyrie Squad.”

    “Copy that, Commander.”

    Bradford approached the Commander, “Sir, the two Nylar soldiers from Operation Dying Empire reported for debriefing, but they insist that they speak only to you.”

    “Very well. Bring them in, then. We need to review the battle footage for-”

    “Central!” one of the yellow suits called out, “The hangar isn’t shutting!”

    Bradford whipped around, “Pull up a visual. Ready a security team by the hangar just in case.”

    The hologlobe vanished, then materialized into a flat visual display. All semblance of blue was soon replaced with its polar opposite, orange, like the rocks on the surface. Amongst the orange was a  hollow ring of silver that should’ve been a full circular sheet of metal.

    “Try the doors again.” Central said behind his officer.

    The pressure vents puffed from the rocky walls and the red lights flared, but then…nothing. Only the groans emanating from the walls indicated that the action of the intelligence officer was doing anything at all.

    Then, a countless number of gray, human-sized masses dive bombed into the opening. 

    The Commander withdrew his plasma pistol from its holster, “Hit the alarms!”

  
  
  


    For Rabid and his team, red lights and horns seemed to blare from every nook and pebble of the base. They were caught in the center of the main hangar, catching the full effect of each and every horn. 

    “The base is under attack. This is not a drill.” an automated voice repeated every now and then.

    “Delta Section, do you read me?” Bradford’s voice overrode the automation. 

    Unsure where exactly to look, Rabid waved both of his arms as he nodded. 

    “Good. Fireteam Amicus standby, there are multiple heat signatures converging on your position. Whatever this is, it looks like your about to be in its crosshairs.”

    Rabid did an exaggerated half-salute in response. “Dig in, boys!”

    The first thing Predator did was snap his wrist at a nearby railing above him. His grappling hook, once tethered, pulled him up to the elevated walkway. Thick footsteps echoed from the metallic spiral staircase behind Predator, and he turned to see that Kingplay had come up for the same vantage point. 

    “Shouldn’t we be up there?” Casanova asked Rabid.

    “Eh, probably.” Rabid answered, also gesturing with his shotgun in his hand. 

    On opposite ends of the rectangular first floor stood Vex and Gale. Together, Rabid and Casanova stood in the center of Delta Section floor beside the hologlobe table.

    Suddenly, a large object fell out of the ceiling vent above Casanova and crunched the metal plating beneath it once it landed. 

    “What the hell is that?” Vex stood aback. 

    Across the room, Kingplay fired his LMG without question. Each round easily collided with a part of the large mass but with little to no effect. The creature’s sleek, metallic, purple armor remained unscathed after the full LMG volley. The bipedal tank still stood. 

    The holotable between Rabid and Casanova shattered, and they looked up to find the glass had been shattered by the spindly legs of a chryssalid.

    “I got it!” Rabid shouted briefly before firing his shotgun at the flesh creature. 

    It staggered backwards, then lunged at him. A quick secondary shot from Rabid halted it in mid-air, but the alien too went for a second attack. Rabid was soon on the ground with the veracious creature on top of him. He desperately produced his sidearm and fired wildly into the chest of the chryssalid from point-blank range. It didn’t move. In fact, it had already stopped moving entirely.

    “Kill confirmed.” Gale commented softly.

    Vex knelt to the ground with his rocket launcher over his shoulder. Smoke plumed behind him, and his rocket made a direct hit with the purple bipedal creature. It detonated, splitting the cyborg into five primary chunks: body, legs, and cannons.

    Predator fired his weapon twice, leading a second chryssalid to fall to the ground.

    Then, there was another heavy thud. Once again, a bipedal, purple cyborg had landed beside Casanova. 

    “Rapid fire; go for the critical!” Rabid shouted at him.

    He instead fired his shotgun once against the biped tank and ran for cover. “That’s suicide!” Casanova yelled back over the comms. 

    In his place, a security guard appeared on the upper walkway. A second guard, too, on the other side of the same floor. Both unarmored units aimed at the mechanical goliath and fired their ballistic weapons upon it. 

    They may as well have used squirt guns. The purple biped turned to face the attention, and raised one of its guns-for-arms in response. A blinding green plasma laser as thick as a tree stump erupted from the arm, completely evaporating the section of walkway where the guard had once stood. 

    Vex backpedaled, “Holy sh-!” 

    “Fire!” Rabid ordered. 

    Kingplay was the next to take action in the form of a shredder rocket. It didn’t take long for his target to regain its footing. Once the smoke cleared, multiple gashed lines upon the mech’s armor were revealed.

    Vex fired his LMG at the weakened biped. It raised its gun arms at him menacingly, but a quick shot from Predator put it down. He fired once more to kill a distant chryssalid.

    “Heads up, Delta Section. You’ve got multiple airborne heat sigs approaching from the west hangar.” Bradford’s voice came over the intercom, “We’ve managed to temporarily power the door to the barracks. Sending reinforcements now.”

    Rabid turned his attention to the door and watched as Kyle and Kinu stumbled out of the door― “Corpus” and “Koi” respectively. Behind them was a slightly more nervous security guard, trembling behind her ballistic rifle. The guard’s gear was a pathetic display in contrast to the laser weapons and carapace armor worn by the two members of Fireteam Orion beside her. 

    “You three, dash up mid.” Rabid waved them over, “Everyone else, push forward and overwatch.”   
    The comms. briefly filled with various sound-offs as just under a dozen set of footprints relocated themselves to face the west hangar. The hangar dropped off into a steep ravine below, and with the upper door mechanism locked, the room was far draftier than it had ever been.

    It started off with just one floater, then three, then five. Dozens. Heavy floaters joined the flight pattern. Behind the floaters tailed two cyberdisks, each one flaunting their own convoy of drones close behind.

    The air between the XCOM soldiers and the flying aliens grew extremely hot as it flashed alive with ballistic, laser, and plasma fire in varying angles. Floaters did their best to serpentine the projectiles, but most were caught by unanticipated bursts or explosions from fellow floaters. The cyberdiscs were slightly easier to hit, though such benefits were mitigated by their dense plates of armor. Soon, all that remained were the disks, their drones, and several heavy floaters. 

  
  


    The doors to the control room echoed twice. Two knocks. Bradford and The Commander looked at each other.

    Bradford approached the door with his laser pistol, “Who is it?”

    “Yin. Spitfire, too.” a feminine voice answered.

    Bradford turned to an intelligence officer who had already pulled up the camera feed to the camera on the other end of the door. The officer nodded.

    “Open the door.” Bradford called out.

    In went Lieutenant Yang and Lieutenant Spitfire. Sections of their armor had already been stripped off the base layer and the scent of freshly applied medikit spray wafted its way around the control room. They looked more like discarded children’s toys than the elite soldiers they were. 

    Upon the sight of them, two officers offered up their chairs and set them beside the wounded soldiers. Central pulled up his own.

    “An unconventional debriefing, I know, but I’m ready when you are.”

    Yang’s mouth refused to form readable words or audible sounds. Her pleading eyes had so much to tell, but they were lost. 

    “Not important right now, with all due respect.” Spitfire said quietly, “It sounds like every soldier on base went into the Proving Grounds at once. What’s happening?”

    “It’s the damned xenos.” Bradford cut in, “Somehow, they’ve managed to jam our door controls _ from the outside _ .”

    The Commander nodded his head solemnly, “The power, too. The best thing-”

    A thrown fire extinguisher clattered against the ground and rolled into the wheels of the Commander’s chair. Bradford had already turned himself and his gun in the right direction, but he wasn’t fast enough. An intelligence officer had already stood, aimed a pistol at the fire extinguisher, and pulled the trigger. The fire extinguisher violently unleashed its frothy contents as all hell broke loose.

  
  
  


    “The base is under attack. This is not a drill.”

    “If I hear that message one more time…” Carla “Infinity” Warren uttered under her breath. 

    “At least we’re safer down here than up there?” Noah “Bunsen” Jan put his optimism skills to the test.

    Infinity’s only response was a grunt.

    “The base is under attack. This is-”

    The message cut out. Then, the power. Silence. Only the displays on the hovering gurney provided luminance. 

    “Well, Infinity, you got what you asked for.”   
    “Shut up, Citadel.”

    Kerwin “Whisper” Ortega walked straight into the back of Citadel’s wide frame. It was impossible to tell who had and hadn’t stopped moving. True to his name, Whisper said nothing.

    Citadel realized his mistake. “Guys, wait here.” 

    “Here?” The Noise called out. She sounded like she was several feet away. “Wait, I can see the gurney.”

    Together, they waited. The glows from the gurney may have been light enough, but it was only enough to make out arms connected to the hands gripping the gurney’s railings.

    Brad “The Boys” Tolland was the first to say it, “Ah, shit.” 

    He was right. The backup generators should have kicked on by then. 

    Whisper reflexively ran his finger towards the switch where the night vision toggle button was on his helmet, but his finger instead met thin air and tinges of his hair. He’d forgotten that they’d opted out of wearing armor.

    “Wait, wait!” Citadel snapped his fingers, “Don’t our weapons have flashlights?”

_ Did they? _

    Metallic cricket chatter came alive as the soldiers tapped and clicked various parts of their weapons. Then, a singular red laser splatted into a brilliant pool of red the size of a pea against the ground. 

    “Laser sight. Under the barrel.” The Noise answered.

    One by one, five more laser beams joined the first. They went from being trained on the ground to illuminating the end of the long hallway separating the soldiers from the nearest research lab. Once the rays were arranged into straight lines, the formation pushed forward unto darkness.  

    At every doorway, one or two lines of red would zip between the door frame, either splashing the door with red or going straight into the room without obstruction. The Boys did this once, and once a red laser spilled through a frame, he swept it back and forth to check for a body to break the line. No such break.

    “Hey.” Citadel said to Whisper. 

    Nothing. Figuring that the darkness was part of the reason, he tapped what he assumed was Whisper’s shoulder and tried again. Still nothing. Citadel shined his laser at the back in front of him and squinted to read:  _ W - H - I _ …  _ Yeah _ .

    “I know you can’t keep this up forever. You know that.”   
    Silence. 

    “I just wanted to let you know, I submitted a request to switch squads.”

    Whether it was naive hope or intuition, Citadel felt like Whisper had turned his head to look at him. Citadel couldn’t remember the last time Whisper managed to do even that.  

    “I’ll be out of your hair in a week” Citadel continued.

    Silence. 

    Citadel gave up. He pushed past Whisper and walked ahead of his pace. This wouldn’t be his squad in a week’s time, but damn him if Whisper was going to demoralize him in front of his squad.

  
  
  


    “Reloading!” Rabid racked his shotgun. 

    As he ducked down, laser LMG fire erupted to cover him. Loaded, he sat up from his cover to turn the approaching heavy floater into a pile of chunky mush. He turned his attention to a floater scream from the other end of a hallway. 

    Casanova missed his first shot, but the second silenced the wails of the floater. He pushed the security guard hard onto her back, then dove in the opposite direction. The body of the floater careened directly between the two, exploding inconclusively. Both Casanova and the security guard stood back up unharmed. 

    “I think that was the last of ‘em.” Predator reported, perched above like a gargoyle

    Corpus tried to protest, but words failed him. His vocal cords strung their hums, but his tongue betrayed him. Instead, he pointed hurriedly at the overhead air conditioning vents. 

    Keen as always, Koi noticed the unremarkable movement and trained her sniper rifle sights on it. 

    Casanova was still fumbling with his ammunition when a familiar purple demon dropped onto the deck. Unlike the first time, Fireteam Industria knew what it meant to miss shots. The mechtoid was rocked mercilessly from nine different angles, all while it turned to face Rabid. 

    Rabid quickly tossed himself over a thick railing and let the wall absorb the plasma heat. 

    “Vex, go for the grenade!” Rabid ordered from his cover.

    “I’m not in range for that!” Vex shouted over the roar of his LMG. 

    Casanova felt something fumble with the grenade fastened to his waist, “Hey!”

    “I’m on it.” the security guard called out as she charged forward. 

    “Wait!” Casanova reached for to her.

    The security guard stepped out too late. She hadn’t entered a reliable throwing range and the mechtoid had already taken sight of her. It took two pivoting steps before it fired.

    Casanova pressed himself against his small section of cover as a hot ray of teal pushed itself into the wall. He took one breath, two breaths, then he peaked: all that remained of the security guard were the scorch marks left along the ground. 

    “Heads up, Delta Section, here comes the next wave of reinforcements.” Bradford’s voice arrived.

    Casanova sighed in relief. 

    “Industria, Orion, covering fire!” Rabid ordered. 

    Holding the wall with one hand, Casanova anchored himself to his half-cover as he fired a pistol with the other hand. 

    Big, sweeping firing patterns pelted the beast’s purple metal plating. Despite the cacophony of suppressive fire, the mechtoid swiveled to face the opening door. 

    Out stepped two corporals and a security guard. Their attention snapped towards the green death laser trained between them, and instantly dove away from each other for cover. The emerald energy ripped through the thin wall dividers, soared across the office space, and slammed against the pneumatic door. By the end of the burst, the door had melted down into a smooth mess. The door effectively became one with the wall. 

    “Move!” a security guard shouted at the two soldier’s that he’d entered with.

    The first unhelmeted head to poke up belonged to Dixon “Clockwork” Fink― an Orion sniper specialist like Koi. He gripped his ballistic sniper rifle by the barrel and ran for the upstairs. It wasn’t until Clockwork had reached the stairs did the next soldier’s head pop above the broken cover. The security guard was the one to pull Bud “A.I.” Kanadov up to his feet and take him running. 

    The mechtoid’s arm traced ahead of where the security guard and A.I. were running to. It’s arm glowed a hot green. Just as it was about to fire, a sniper round struck the arm’s barrel. Disabling shot. With his work done, Predator pivoted back into his walkway cover. A.I. and the guard made it safely into cover. 

  
  


    Using his boot, the Commander sent a traitor down a short set of stairs. Arms wrapped around him from the side only momentarily before the hands were ripped from him by force. That motion spun him around in time to find Bradford grappling with another rogue operative. 

    Shen cried out. Within seconds, his attacker was on the ground and experiencing the collective wrath of Spitfire and Yang. 

    In the corner of his eye, the Commander saw glimpses of an officer approaching him with something shiny in his hands. Careless bootsteps gave way to yet another possible target. The Commander faced down the bull of a man approaching him and made his stance wide as if to take him head on. With the man’s fingertips mere inches away from his face, the Commander sidestepped him. He planted his hands against the man’s shoulders, then used the man’s momentum to swing him into the operative sneaking behind him. Once lumped, the lower body pushed aside the upper one and began to charge once more. It couldn’t have taken more than two steps before taking a hard punch to the jaw from Bradford.

    The back of Yang’s foot bumped up against something that moved. She whirled around with a backfist. A fist had beaten her. Fists hovering a short distance away from their marks, Yang and Spitfire eyed each other cautiously.

    “I got your 6.” Spitfire turned around with her guard up. 

    “Copy.”

    Yang strained to recall her combat training sessions. Beneath all the layers of sniper missions, there was the  _ one _ time she had to use her fists instead of a scope. She parried a traitor’s punch and threw her own. An extra cross and a push kick incapacitated the attacker.

    Another traitor flew past Yang. He slid to a stop, then lay there. 

    Yang suddenly jerked her knee up and blocked a kick with her shin. Her newest attacker staggered back, then lunged for a weighted jab. She reflexively slipped the punch’s reach. With a quick tug on the wrist, Yang used the traitor’s momentum to send him to the floor. 

    Like dogs, Yang and Spitfire perked up at a high pitched sound. It was a short sound that they’d grown far too familiar with in their line of work. Their ears began to ring. Whether it was inexperience or shock Yang will never know, but the officers nearest the door foolishly faced the explosion bellies first and standing. Those that weren’t torn to shreds were tossed aside like cloth dolls― comatose. 

    Yang picked up the dulled sounds of plasma fire. She reached for her sniper rifle, but it wasn’t there. Just her pistol. She eyed Spitfire’s back and saw that she was in a similar predicament. 

    Spitfire pointed at something behind Yang, her lips moving with urgency. Yang was too far away to read them. It wasn’t until Spitfire aimed down the sights of her sidearm did Yang understand. 

    Yang snuck a glance over her shoulder. Against the wall on the end of the situation room behind her, a thinman was holding the Commander at gunpoint. Not to execute, but to escape with the ultimate prize. Yang readied her shot, but then ducked beneath a stream of plasma. 

    The intelligence officers were comically outgunned by their attackers, and among those officers were the unarmed traitors, weaving between bullets just for a chance at a decisive tackle. Whatever Yang was about to do, she needed to do it quick. 

    In the very least, her hearing had returned. 

    “Can you cover me?” Yang turned to Spitfire.

    Spitfire raised her pistol and nodded her head.

    Together, the last members of Fireteam Nylar stood amongst the chaotic lattice of ballistic rounds and plasma bolts. Spitfire’s pistol barked behind Yang’s back, giving Yang the confidence she needed to…

_ Fire. _

    The thinman’s head burst apart. It’s toxic fumes puffed out upon its death. The Commander knew this. The toxic cloud nipped at the Commander’s heels as he dove and crawled away from the toxic corpse. 

    Something in the blown apart doorway roared, stomped its feet, and pounded its armored chest as if daring the operatives to fire. A berserker had arrived.

  
  
  


    The silence in the halls to the research labs was tolerable on its own, but when combined with the darkness, the lack of senses was maddening. To Infinity, the act of laser-checking was starting to feel more like a highlight and less like a chore. 

    “I’d rather take on the Chimera squad.” Bunsen answered Citadel’s hypothetical, “The Valkyries are more well knit.”

    “Chimera’s the only one with a body count.” muttered The Boys.

    “Woah,” The Noise pitched in, “That wasn’t confirmed.”

    “What about you, Whisper?” Citadel’s voice rang out from the front to the back. 

_ Persistent _ , Infinity noted. She was one of the first few to give up on getting Whisper to talk. 

    Still, like the others, Infinity silenced herself and waited, curiously. Her knee bumped into the gurney. Everything had stopped.

    “God damn it, Whisper,” Citadel spun around. He took three heavy steps to the back of the lineup, then froze. “Guys, turn around.”

    Infinity froze when she saw what made Citadel take pause. Whisper’s weapon was on the ground with its laser sight trained on the wall. The laser light spilled marginally down the wall. Even with her hesitation, Infinity was the first to aim down the hallway past the discarded weapon. Her laser light painted against Whisper’s chest in a small dot. Problem was, Infinity was aiming six feet above the ground.

    Citadel didn’t have to say it because they’d already begun to:  _ fire _ . Each muzzle flash was a mini flashbang in Infinity’s light sensitive eyes. She squeezed the kickbacks out of her gun and blindly held down the trigger with her aim held true. A cool fluid trailed down her cheeks and pooled at her jaw. 

    A waving hand motion from Citadel tapered the ballistic fire. He had his laser trained on himself. His lips moved soundlessly, his eyes wild with a furious panic. He pointed at his ear with his free hand as he addressed each confused face of his squad.

    Infinity put a finger to the liquid on her cheeks. To her surprise, the fluid had gotten flaky. Part of it clung wetly to her finger pads, and some of it got stuck in her fingernails when she scratched at it. Infinity was certain the material caking onto her hands would have been red even without her laser light. 

    The squad pushed forward with Citadel at the tip of the spear. That made Infinity the spear handle. Whisper lay unmoving ahead of them with. Barely visible above Whisper’s own body was the shiny corpse of an alien.

    Summoned by Citadel’s two finger flick, The Noise approached Whisper and knelt beside him. She didn’t wait for anyone to provide any light before starting her work on their bullet-ridden comrade. Dissatisfied, The Noise checked for a pulse on the other side of Whisper’s neck. She even offered a wrist pulse check that turned up as fruitless as the last. 

    Infinity’s mind was wordless. Even if her teammates could hear her, her brain refused to formulate full thoughts in human letters, words, and sentences. Instead, she felt as if her soul had been swept away in a tornado, leaving her body an empty husk. Whisper was dead. They killed him. 

    Bunsen pointed even further down the hall before taking a plasma charge to his shoulder. He held his trigger on his way down, riddling the walls and ceiling with every blinding muzzle flash. The Noise pushed past Infinity to get to him.

    Using a nearby room as cover, Citadel knelt to the ground and fired at the glowing green weapons. The glow would be the alien’s downfall. The Noise and The Boys flushed themselves against opposite walls before offering their shots. Between them, Infinity lay prone on her stomach and fired in sweeping motions. One alien weapon clattered to the linoleum and self-destructed. A line of green glow from a light plasma rifle disappeared into one of the previously cleared rooms.

    Again, plasma fire from behind narrowly missed her and her teammates. Infinity knew she wouldn’t survive a skirmish on two fronts by laying on her stomach. She flipped herself over, then ejected her empty magazine. 

    A thinman poked out of a doorway less than a foot away from The Noise and Bunsen. The Noise dropped her spent medikit canister and drew her pistol from its holster. Unable to voice her warning, Infinity instead flung her empty magazine at The Noise; too late. The muzzle flashed.

    The toxic gas was quick to spread. As Infinity flipped onto her side and pulled desperately away from the fumes, The Noise threw herself backwards and landed on her ass. Infinity’s eyes watered and something foul entered her lungs. She expunged the foreign gas bit by bit with whooping coughs she could feel but not hear. Beside her, The Noise clawed at her eyes as her chest spasmed up and down. She looked up at Bunsen, whose spasms matched The Noise’s. Paralyzed, she watched as Bunsen was fatally betrayed by his own involuntary vomiting. 

    Suddenly, Infinity slid. She felt something slick constrict around her ankle. She reached for her weapon or the rail of the hovering gurney, but they both slid past her. No,  _ she _ was sliding past  _ them _ . She drew her pistol and fired at the invisible creature, which did nothing to slow her descent down the hallway, but she did feel the clasp around her ankle loosen. 

    Ballistic fire soared over her, and the slippery hold on her leg released completely. She felt something heavy land at her feet. Behind the dead creature were more glows of green. Infinity, still on her back, kicked their hovering captive into a nearby room and scrambled towards her own glowing red light. 

 

    Reluctantly, Casanova moved out of his full cover and forward unto half cover closer to the mechtoid. Something told him that if he ignored yet another one of Rabid’s orders the ladies wouldn’t be calling him “Casanova” when Rabid was through with him. He grimaced at how blindly the rookies from Fireteam Orion followed his orders. Perfect soldiers. 

    The mechtoid straightened itself out, seemingly standing taller.  _ Had it repaired its weapon already? Wouldn’t it have fired by then? _

    “Corpus, move in for the run and gun critical!” Rabid commanded.

_ Critical? On a bipedal tank? _

    To his dismay, Casanova heard the eager soldier sound off instantly.  _ Why the fuck were they listening to him? _ He watched Corpus leap over his adequate railing cover onto the bare floor, then rush up to a dilapidated holodesk to take the ordered shot. Casanova was left slack jawed as the mechtoid collapsed on powerless legs after only a couple shots.  _ Lucky. Ass. Kid. _

    “Reload.” Rabid again ordered something that everyone else had already been doing. 

    As Casanova slid a fresh ammo magazine out from behind him, he heard scuttling and scurrying. He initially passed it off as a natural water leak. Once he remembered what that sound meant, he hurriedly loaded the magazine and aimed in preparation. 

    “Chryssalid, up above!” he stood for the prefire.

    Corpus looked up and staggered back in terror. Casanova’s shotgun blast hadn’t pushed back the falling chryssalid as far as he’d hoped, and the chryssalid landed on what used to be the holotable. A sniper round burst into sparks and glistening metal as it hit the table. Angry laser fire began to spew from two separate sets of LMGs. Corpus’ gun remained silent. 

    “Help!” Corpus cried out as he finally decided to raise his weapon. The assault rifle came off with Corpus hand still attached. Before Corpus had the chance to scream again, he was skewered in two quick motions.

    “No!” Koi’s exasperation spilled through the comm. links. She stood to fire but couldn’t seem to find her aim. Clockwork stepped in where she couldn’t and took the shot. More sparks and metal shrapnel kicked up but no blood splattered. It was Gale―  crouched, calm, and collected Gale― who took the killing shot. 

    Koi’s weeping could still be heard over the radio but Rabid wasn’t having any of it. After everything that he’d witnessed, Casanova was surprised to see Rabid do something that he could agree with. Rabid pulled out his sidearm and stoically fired at the man he’d just gotten killed.

    “What the hell!” Clockwork finally broke, “He’s―”

    “―turning.” Rabid cut in, “Damn it, I missed!” he turned to face Clockwork but changed his mind and turned back to the body, “Koi, shoot Corpus! It’s easier  _ before _ it gets back up.”

    “...what?” she waivered.

    “Koi, do it!” Casanova had already began dashing towards the infected corpse, “Or I’ll be the one to do it!” 

    With a tear-riddled breath, Koi finally stood again. Casanova was already halfway towards Corpus. Either way, Corpus was not going to reanimate as a pawn of the enemy. Then, Casanova saw a purple arm turret charge a shot. 

    As he dive-rolled out of the open, he heard the downed mechtoid fire its arm cannon. He heard metallic groans as something heavy gave in to the plasma but nothing was going to stop him from shooting his shot. He quickly pulled his trigger twice and the mechtoid exploded violently, sending the rising Corpus flying across the room. Hunks of metal and thermal radiation ushered Corpus against his half cover.

    A grappling hook dug into the ground in front of him. Predator sprawled into the ground but had the sense to cut the grapple cord before it fully pulled his wrist against the floor. He tumbled relatively harm free to a halt. 

    Casanova looked up at the walkway Predator had been standing on, but he couldn’t find it. Then, he realized the walkway was hanging precariously in some places and missing in the middle. The walkway angled down to the ground like an arrow that pointed directly at Clockwork. Clockwork was kneeling beside Koi as she lay, holding her still hand to his forehead as he rocked back and forth.

  
  
  


    It was either bravery or stupidity that had turned yet another XCOM operative into an unrecognizable mess. Yang winced as she watched the unarmored man take a full pummeling from the berserker. 

    “Alternate, people!” Bradford remained calm as ever as he hurled a stapler at the back of the Berserker’s head. The throw connected and the berserker turned to face him, pissed. “Anytime now!”

    Yang tested the weight of her empty sidearm, then slung it at the berserker. It connected with the jaw of the berserker, and Yang was pleased to see that the universal off switch truly was universal. The berserker dropped unconscious.

    “Now!” one Bradford’s officers pointed. Another officer lobbed their final fire extinguisher at the berserker as the first officer produced a pocket knife. Before he could throw it, plasma fire cut him in half. A separate burst popped the head of the other officer.

    Yang hunkered down and mouthed to Spitfire, “Any bullets left?”

    Spitfire held up pistol and cocked it to check, then mouthed back “Just five.”

    Delicately, a hum reminiscent of Big Momma rose to a crescendo.  _ It couldn’t have been. Could she? _ Yang peeked her corner and saw a newer type of beast dressed in ornate crimson and gold. In its hands was a heavy plasma cannon. 

    Papers exploded into the air and computer monitors turned into deadly shrapnel as plasma charges from multiple heavy plasma cannons spurred the room an erratic neon green. Those sitting nearest the door had their cover and subsequently their bodies torn into cauterized shreds. That was before alien grenades were thrown into the mix. 

    “They’re taking the-” Bradford’s voice couldn’t compete with the detonations. 

_Intel?_ _What intel did they have?_

    It was Spitfire’s turn to peak. She snapped a glance around the corner but an even snappier muton elite plasma-checked her cover with a single charge. 

    “They’re taking The Commander!” Spitfire reported before snapping back around her cover. Her gun barked twice before she ducked back down. Whatever she did must have pissed off the muton elite enough to get it to start degrading her cover with the full volley of his plasma fire. Spitfire ducked and lay flat just in time, using a set of two stairs that was just barely tall enough to conceal her slender frame. 

    Most of the suppressive fire paused. The mutons roared at something. When Yang peaked, there was a muton clutching his hand roaring at the bullet wounds Spitfire had given him. The surrounding muton elites were hyper focused on the live grenade that the first one had dropped. 

    Those who weren’t watching would have mistaken it for just another alien grenade detonation in the room. Those that did see the muton elites stagger, however, stood as tall as Spitfire and Yang did. Like Spitfire, other operatives began to open pistol fire on the escaping muton elite, taking care not to hit their Commander. 

    It wasn’t enough. The muton elite carrying The Commander ate every shot to its back without skipping a beat. The remaining muton elites composed themselves and reopened their plasma cannons to ensure their escape. 

    The Commander vanished from sight.

    For the first time since its construction, the entirety of XCOM HQ was silent. 


End file.
